


Midnight Run

by ColourAndCity, ScarlettSiren



Series: Nōmenclātūra [4]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Anxiety Attacks, Aromantic Character, Attempted Assault, Attempted Murder, BDSM, BDSM Scene, Blood Drinking, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Clubbing, Cock Warming, Demisexual Character, Dom/sub Play, Grief/Mourning, Hand Jobs, Inexperienced Dom, Investigations, It is called out though, Lingerie, M/M, Minor Violence, Multiple Partners, Murder, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Abusive Behavior, Subspace, Trauma, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Wax Play, belly bulge, boot licking, buddy cop tropes, cock stepping, references to war violence, sex as a coping mechanism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 13:51:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 51,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22944937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColourAndCity/pseuds/ColourAndCity, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettSiren/pseuds/ScarlettSiren
Summary: There’s a human indiscriminately slaughtering vampires through the underground club scene in Seoul. Eden is the only hunter willing to take the case.San wants to help.
Relationships: Choi San/Jeong Yunho, Choi San/Kim Yonghwan | Eden, Kim Hongjoong/Kim Yonghwan | Eden/Park Seonghwa, Park Seonghwa/Kim Yonghwan | Eden
Series: Nōmenclātūra [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1344856
Comments: 222
Kudos: 431
Collections: Collection - Another Name for the Devil, The K-Pop Storybook





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SS: Basically, I can’t have a conversation with ColourAndCity without coming up with a new fic idea in this ‘verse so here we are. Plus people seem to love the San/Eden dynamic and SO DO I so here we are. At least I convinced her to collab with me on this one!!
> 
> C&C: I'm sorry. (No I'm not.)
> 
> If you somehow ended up here and you haven’t read Another Name for the Devil, I highly recommend that you do so before reading this! It won’t make much sense out of context!

They weren’t even told until six vampires had already been killed.

There was a memo—a _ memo, _not a sanction—that went out as a general APB to the Bureau’s Hunting Division and to the media. It was only thanks to Eden’s meticulous eye for those sorts of things that he even saw it, printing the details and taking the information with him before heading back to Seongnam.

He hadn’t quite made it back to the mansion yet when he got a call from Seonghwa. Thankfully, however, he was just a few streets away at the time. He tapped on his phone’s screen to answer the call, but left it on handsfree mode.

“Seonghwa.”

_ “Eden, I have something of great importance to discuss with you. Hongjoong has just sent me something rather disconcerting, when were you planning to return home?” _

“I’m around the corner, and I saw it too. Give me ten minutes.”

_ “Very well, then. I will see you in my study. Drive safely.” _

Seonghwa still sounded distressed, but he hung up regardless. Within eight minutes, Eden was striding through the mansion doors, and met Seonghwa in the study as requested.

“Eden.” Seonghwa said, his voice strained with several different emotions. It was a plea, and it sent a deep pang of ache through his chest.

“I know. I saw the APB on my way out of HQ. Hongjoong did too?”

“He received an alert, and forwarded it to me. He is across the country on a hunt right now or else I am certain he would be here himself. Details were sparse in this _ memo _ but I had Yunho pull up the file.” Seonghwa sounded equal parts frustrated and heartbroken. “A sanction has not been issued because they do not even have a name or a description. This was—at _ best— _a recommendation to investigate. At the hunters’ leisure!”

“I know.” Eden was at a bit of a loss. He’d never seen Seonghwa so riled up; he was pacing, clenching his fingers nervously. Eden hesitated before holding out a hand, intercepting him as he passed and catching him gently at the elbow.

Their eyes met, and for a brief moment, Eden could read so many emotions warring within Seonghwa’s gaze. Anger. Contempt. Bitterness. Frustration. Sadness. Fear.

Contempt seemed to come to the forefront, Seonghwa’s fangs showing as he gritted his teeth. “This is _ outrageous! _ How can they possibly justify this type of _ blatant _disregard for vampirekind?”

“I’ll take care of it, Seonghwa.” He assured calmly.

“It isn’t that simple, Eden.” Seonghwa rebutted, sighing deeply as the anger bled out of him, replaced by melancholy. “This only proves the system is still corrupt. That all our work has been for nothing.”

“I know it may seem that way.” Eden replied, his hand slipping upward to take hold of Seonghwa’s bicep. “But we’ve made progress. This is…this is bullshit, and I’m going to raise hell at the Bureau when I get back. But right now, I’ve got to get this problem taken care of.”

“The Bureau knows _ nothing. _I am not discounting your skills, of course…I am well aware you are an investigator of the highest caliber, but this is so much for one man to take on.” Seonghwa said.

“I’ll have Yunho run the intel for me before I head out to Seoul to do the legwork, so I’m not flying blind. I’ll find this scumbag and I’ll take them down.” Eden promised.

“This person is _ murdering vampires _in cold blood in the Seoul club scene. This is…such a dangerous undertaking.” Seonghwa reminded him. “There are no current suspects, and nothing is known of the killer except that they are human.”

There was a knock at the study door, then, before it swung open to reveal San.

“Hey, um, not to interrupt, but—”

“San, I’m sorry, Eden and I are discussing something of great importance, could you—”

“I know. I saw it on the news just a bit ago, and I heard you yelling.” San told him. “I want to help.”

“To…help?” Seonghwa asked, confused.

“Yeah. No one knows the clubs like me, and they were saying this guy looks like he’s seducing vampires with promises of blood and sex, right? This is right up my alley. I’d be the perfect bait to draw him out.”

_ “What?” _Seonghwa balked.

Eden inclined his head, holding up a quelling hand. “Wait. I want to hear him out.”

San grinned. “I’m just saying, I could do it. I troll the clubs with Eden tailing me and draw out this vamp killer. And Eden takes him out before he can actually hurt me.”

“It could work.” Eden reasoned.

“Absolutely _ not!” _Seonghwa hissed. “Do you know what kind of danger you’d be putting yourself in?”

“Of course I do. I’m not stupid, Seonghwa. I’m not flippantly volunteering because danger gets me off or something.” He bit back. “But out of all of us, I’m the best actor,” San began counting down the reasons on his fingers, “I know all the major clubs like the back of my hand, the regulars all know me so I wouldn’t seem out of place, I’m chill with casual sex with strangers in the case they’re _ not _the vamp-killer and Eden will feel the least guilty if he lets me die.”

The hunter rounded on him at that, opening his mouth to argue.

“I was kidding about the last part.” San cut him off. “A bit of gallows humor to lighten the mood. I understand how serious this is. But there’s no way Eden is going to manage to draw this person out on his own. I mean look at him, he literally _ looks _ like a hunter. Nobody is going to come within ten meters of him in the clubs, hell they might not even let him _ into _ the clubs looking like that. And all the while, innocent vampires are getting killed. Let me do this.”

Eden mulled over San’s remarks, knowing he was at least partially right in the sense that he would stick out like a sore thumb if he attempted to scan the clubs. Seonghwa was visibly trembling, indecision warring on his face.

“I won’t let anything happen to him, Seonghwa.” Eden promised softly. “You know that I won’t.”

Finally, Seonghwa relented. He let out a shuddering sigh and motioned for San to approach, which he did without question.

Seonghwa pulled him close, pressing a lingering kiss to his forehead. “You _ must _ be careful. You _ must _ come back to us, understand me?”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

Seonghwa shook his head. “Not worrying is anathema to my very nature, my darling San.”

“Well, at least know I’ll be in good hands. The best. Even Hongjoong wouldn’t argue that.” San replied.

“Yeah he would.” Eden quipped back, smirking. “But he’d be wrong.”

***

Eden was eager to move quickly on the leads they received from Yunho, and so, they had plans to head for Seoul the very next night.

Yunho was happy to hand over the intel, but when he learned that San was going with Eden, he was somewhat concerned. He quickly sought out San. When he found him seemingly unbothered about the whole situation while lounging in the sitting room, Yunho confronted him about his uncertainties.

“Hey San… so uh, I heard that you’re joining Eden on his new mission?” Yunho asked while somewhat nervously crumpling some of the extra intel papers he still had in his hands.

“Yep.”

“You know you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, if Eden is forcing you to—”

“Forcing me? Please, I volunteered.” San laughed.

“You what?!” Yunho was completely caught off guard.

“Yeah, I overheard him talking with Seonghwa, and I feel like my particular set of skills could be of use to them.”

Yunho was silent. He didn’t know exactly what to say because he didn’t want to necessarily offend San but in his brain he just kept repeating over and over _ ‘what skills?!’ _

San looked up at Yunho, stuck in his own head and his expression soured slightly.

“You don’t think I can hold my own during this mission.” San said flatly.

“I, uh, well, I—that’s not exactly what I, uh…” Yunho ruffled his hair in a fluster as San slowly rose to his feet and confronted him, Yunho quickly averting all eye contact.

“Wow.” San said with his hands on his hips. “You really don’t. Jeong Yunho, I am truly disappointed.”

San gave a bit of a pout as Yunho scrambled to rearrange his thoughts and attempt to save the situation.

“I just mean, uh, well like, Eden and Hongjoong and like, even me and Jongho have been training for years and… well… you...?” Yunho gestured vaguely.

“I have a black belt in karate, judo, kickboxing, taekwondo, and krav maga. Plus I’m pretty good at muay thai as well. I think I can hold my own for a couple of minutes if needed.” San replied smugly.

“What?! How?” Yunho’s mouth was hanging agape at this flood of information.

“Let’s just say I’ve had a lot of free time this past billion decades.” San replied with a huff.

“I don’t… believe you.” Yunho said with a bit of a smirk.

“Okay, want me to toss you across the room?” San casually raised his eyebrows and gestured at the space around them.

“I’d like to see you try.” Yunho goaded in a provoking tone.

“All right.”

San went to firmly grasp the collar of Yunho’s shirt when he suddenly froze in place.

“Wait. No. Not here.” San said in a robotic tone. “Seonghwa will absolutely murder me if we damage any of his antique furtniture as I hurl your enormous body about.”

“The forge?”

“The forge.”

With that they quickly relocated to the lower bowels of the mansion, free of anything Seonghwa might later scold them for damaging.

Within the next three minutes, San managed to throw Yunho onto his back in seventeen different ways, the last completely knocking the wind out of him. Yunho just laid there dazed on the floor for a few moments as San extended a hand out to help him back up.

“So, you want me to kick your ass anymore ways or is that enough for today?” San said as he pulled Yunho to his feet.

“All right, all right I believe you.” Yunho grumbled with a defeated sigh. “But… but like what if someone pulls a _ gun _ on you. Do you know how to properly disarm them?”

San sighed and rolled his eyes slightly as Yunho quickly ran to grab a spare pistol he had laying around. He emptied the clip and barrel of all ammunition, then jogged back to San.

“So what you want to do—”

Before Yunho even had a chance to raise the gun to chest level, San had already successfully disarmed him, twisting and pinning his arm behind his back and holding the empty gun to Yunho’s temple.

“Bang.” San said jokingly as he pretended to fire the gun.

“No wait, I wasn’t ready!” Yunho sputtered out, completely flustered.

San released Yunho’s arm and walked back around in front of him with a smug smile.

“Oh okay Mr. Bad Guy in a totally real world situation. Is it okay for me to disarm you now?”

Yunho just babbled a bunch of nonsense in frustration. 

“Okay fine! You can hold your own.” He finally admitted.

"That's more like it." San said with a sigh of relief as he was casually looking over the gun Yunho had used as an example, turning it over in his hands.

“Hey, what is this? A 0.25 Automatic Colt Pistol?” San asked offhandedly.

“Uh, yeah…”

San walked back over to where Yunho had emptied out all the ammunition and proceeded to reload the gun, almost over-exaggerating every movement deliberately just to get the point across that he knew a lot more than he might have let on. Without saying another word he headed over to the small shooting range and unleashed the entire clip on the paper target. Every shot hit within three millimeters of a lethal kill spot. San turned back around, cracking a huge dimpled smile. He casually tossed the empty gun back at Yunho, who hot-potatoed the smoking gun until he was able to toss it back on his work bench.

“So, think I’ll be all right?” San laughed.

“I’m not sure if _ I’ll _be all right.” Yunho mumbled, flush high on his cheeks as he glanced away.

San raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh?”

He stalked over to the human slowly, a sway in his gait and mischief in his eyes as he pulled his own bottom lip between his teeth. When he was finally in front of him, he brought his hand up, letting his fingers trail over Yunho’s chest.

“Did that do something for you, big guy?”

Yunho swallowed a groan, his face surely beet red by then as he glanced away, not wanting to admit to being so turned on by something so… embarrassing.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” San cooed, curling his fingers into Yunho’s shirt. “If you enjoyed it so much when I messed you up—I could mess you up some more. If you’d like.”

He nodded furiously. Yunho would _ definitely _like.

***

Eden was getting antsy. He and San were supposed to leave soon, and he couldn’t find him, despite searching all his usual haunts. Eventually, he realized he _ also _hadn’t seen Yunho in a while, and took a chance on checking his forge.

Sure enough, he found him—both of them, actually—Yunho bent in half on the workout mat like some kind of pretzel while San fucked the life out of him.

Eden was too angry to feel any amount of shame as he stalked over, kicking at San’s naked flank with the toe of his boot.

"San what the fuck?!" Eden growled. "We were supposed to head to Gangnam to canvas clubs ten minutes ago!"

San momentarily pulled himself away from Yunho and trailed his eyes over Eden as he loomed over them.

"Not dressed like that, no we most definitely are not." San quipped as he turned back to Yunho. "Give me ten minutes, Yunho's pretty quick."

Yunho just made a squeaky, confused noise as he wasn't exactly sure if he was supposed to be offended or not, but _ god _the things that San was currently doing to him were sinful.

"I can't believe I put up with this." Eden grumbled as he trudged back upstairs.

True to his word, San tracked him down nine and a half minutes later, looking smug and a little fucked out.

“Okay, so, this whole ‘edgy fishing dad’ look has got to go. Follow me.” San said, heading for his room.

_“Edgy fishing—_hey fuck you, okay? I dress for practicality and efficiency, not like I’m trying to get fucked every five minutes.” Eden bit back.

“Listen, I don’t care how you dress on an average hunt, but this is an undercover sting in _ my _ area of expertise and I don’t want you to get made within seconds and either spook the killer or get _ me _killed, so, makeover.” San retorted, pushing Eden to sit at his vanity.

No sooner had he leaned in to get to work on his face that Eden grimaced, turning away.

"You are going to have to change or shower or something."

San merely raised an eyebrow and frowned.

“You smell like sex.” Eden stated bluntly.

“That’s the usual result of having sex, yeah.” San quipped back. Eden just grimaced. “What, you don’t like my new favourite perfume? It's called Eau d’Yunho.”

Eden gagged, causing San to break out in a fit of giggles.

“Fine, I’ll shower. Give me two minutes. Then we can work on… this.” He gestured vaguely toward Eden’s entire person, then headed into the bathroom without giving him a chance to respond.

Eden let himself look over all the stuff on the vanity, he had no idea what at least half of it was. He’d had a skincare routine once, when he was in his teens or early twenties, maybe. But everything on San’s vanity was pretty much foreign to him. Some of it was literally foreign to him as he picked up a small bottle of _ something _ and tried to read the label.

"What is this, Farsi?" Eden mumbled as he placed the mysterious bottle back on the vanity counter.

As he waited for San to return he caught a glimpse of himself in the large mirror. He had never really been one for appearances, especially his own, but he never realized how _ different _ he looked now since he had been turned. His permanent dark circles under his eyes were gone and his skin looked so much more fresh and youthful. Eden had always looked older than his age, at least prior to becoming a familiar but for once he actually seemed to have taken about 5 years off of himself just from being rid of the permanent exhaustion. He slowly ran his fingers through his long hair that hung at either side of his face and gently prodded the skin under his eyes. Even his oldest scars seemed to have faded ever so slightly.

"Okay! Time for Extreme Makeover: Eden Edition!" San exclaimed with a clap as he re-entered the room, hair still sopping wet from his shower. "Time to prep the canvas!"

Vampires did not have much by way of imperfections or uneven skin tones, so San didn’t bother with foundation, merely priming Eden’s eyes for shadow. He smoked them out with a soft brown, then rimmed his eyes with a deep black liner, feathering it out at the edges. He filled in his brows as well before cleaning them up with tweezers. Eden didn’t even flinch, but that wasn’t surprising given that such a thing was hardly painful for a vampire.

San finished off the look with just a hint of highlighter with brown and gold undertones at the apples of his cheeks. He considered him for a long moment, thinking if he wanted to add anything else, but he eventually decided that less was more in Eden’s particular case.

"Passable." San said with a confident nod, looking at Eden's reflection. "Now, wardrobe."

San strutted over to his large walk-in closet and emerged a minute or so later carrying an armful of various shirts and pants. To his dismay Eden was about four sizes larger than him and absolutely nothing fit without making Eden look like a Jersey Shore reject.

"This is quite the predicament." San mumbled while anxiously rubbing the side of his face.

"Wait, come here for a second." San beckoned Eden closer.

Eden reluctantly did as he asked as San began pacing around him in circles, eyeing him up and down. Eden felt mildly violated having San stare so intensely at him while only in his undergarments.

"Follow me." San instructed bluntly as he swiftly turned and left the room.

Eden trailed behind him but immediately became suspicious when San led him into an adjacent bedroom.

"San… what are we doing in Seonghwa's bedroom?" Eden asked cautiously.

"Lucky for you it appears that you and Seonghwa are about the same size." San headed straight for Seonghwa's closet.

"What?! You could tell that just by looking at me?!" Eden huffed.

"What? You can't?" San bit back. "I've lived with Seonghwa for seven decades, it would be a lie if I said I didn't know every inch of his body."

Had Eden still been human, his face would have flushed red in embarrassment and admitted jealousy.

Seonghwa casually sauntered into his bedroom, then, seemingly not even bothered that Eden was standing there in his undergarments while San rummaged through his closet.

"I thought you were headed to Gangnam tonight?" Seonghwa noted as he scanned over his bookcase looking for something in particular to read.

"San demanded I have a makeover." Eden grumbled.

"Whatever he's done so far, it looks wonderful." Seonghwa said cheerfully as he walked over to him and gently gave Eden's chin a flick with his pointer finger, leaning in close and taking in the aromatic scent of San's perfume on him.

"Seonghwa!" San called from the closet.

"Yes, dear San?"

"Do you own anything other than slacks?! I need something… I don't know, sexier?"

"Try the bottom drawer, third wardrobe to the left." Seonghwa instructed as he sat down on his bed, setting his book down beside him and casually crossing his legs.

"Oh…. _ Oh!” _ San could be heard muttering. "Uh Seonghwa, I honestly hate to say this but maybe something a little _ less _ sexy?"

Eden raised an eyebrow.

Seonghwa gently laughed to himself. "Pity. Try the second drawer in the second wardrobe."

"Perfect!"

In a couple minutes San emerged with several different outfit combinations for Eden to try on. Seonghwa seemed to revel in the unintentional fashion show presented in front of him. Eventually both San and Seonghwa settled on a deep blue blouse with a plunging neckline and a pair of skinny leather pants. San finished off the look by decking Eden out with several of his rings and necklaces.

"You look stunning." Seonghwa said breathily. "I wouldn't even recognize you."

"It'll do." San curtly replied with a smirk.

Eden looked visibly uncomfortable, though he couldn’t help but swallow at such an ardent compliment from Seonghwa.

“We should… head out soon.”

San nodded. “Let me get ready and then we can go. Gimme ten minutes!”

He ducked out of the room, Seonghwa laughing softly and shaking his head in his wake.

“I have never known him to do his makeup in less than thirty.” Seonghwa told him mildly, regarding him with a fervent expression. “Shall we keep each other company, in the meantime?”

Eden hadn’t ever known Seonghwa to offer such a thing unless he believed Eden himself was in need of it, and heat crawled up the back of his neck at the prospect that Seonghwa might’ve _ wanted _him, that he might desire him in the same way Eden did Seonghwa.

“If we’ve got the time.” Eden answered in a raw voice, and Seonghwa grinned.


	2. Chapter 2

The drive to Seoul was… long.

Eden was certain he might  _ actually  _ go insane.

Not because San was being particularly obnoxious… no, it was actually the exact opposite as he was actually  _ eerily  _ silent. He wondered if San was suffering trying to remain so silent, given that Eden had always known him to be quite chatty, but he seemed firmly focused upon his phone, essentially ignoring Eden’s existence for a solid half-hour before Eden couldn’t take it anymore and finally said something.

“I plan to touch base with the owner of Club Shangri-La once we arrive.” He told him, virtually out of nowhere. “No murders have occurred there, but he can give us some insight from the district’s perspective.”

“Oh, you mean Hakyeon? Do you know him?” San asked, sounding interested. He set his phone aside, which felt like a victory to Eden in some twisted way.

“I do… do you?” Eden responded, curious.

“Of course. He’s the founder of the first vampire-friendly club in Seoul. He’s a legend. And he’s been around forever. Seonghwa’s known him for ages.” San answered. “How do  _ you  _ know him?”

“Years ago, I was tracking a sanctioned vampire who liked to party. Seonghwa recommended that I speak with Hakyeon, and reached out to him to let him know I could be trusted. I’ve gone to him a few times for intel since.” Eden explained.

“Hakyeon is the leader of the Coven of Starlight and in my opinion, runs the best vampire club in the country. Seonghwa respects him quite a bit, and the feeling is mutual.” San said. “At least we have a point of contact who trusts you, though. That’s a good place to start. Easier to beg for forgiveness than ask permission.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eden said with a huff.

“I mean, starting out at a vampire club where you can let the owner know your intentions is a much safer starting place than starting out at some random human corporation-run club that would as quickly have your head as the murderer would if you dare step out of line.”

“There are corporation-run clubs?” Eden quickly glanced over to San.

“Yeah? So many are trying to cash in on old vampire money. Didn’t you know this?”

“I haven’t exactly had much time to delve extensively into the inner workings of the vampire club scene…”

San decided then to utilize their two-hour drive to give Eden the rundown on the entire history of the underground vampire club scene in the area. In extensive detail; from the posh private clubs in Gangnam, to the college clubs in Hongdae and the Wild West that was the largely foreign club scene in Itaewon. He even included a breakdown of which clubs were run by vampires, what covens those vampires were associated with, and which had been bought up by human investors just looking to make money—the latter having very little regard for the well-being of their vampire patrons, which explained why the killings had gone on for so long before the Bureau released their ‘memo’.

Eden was actually surprised by how much intel San was able to provide so early in the game.

“This is nice. Like a buddy cop movie.” San said in a chipper tone.

“We aren’t buddies, nor are we cops.” Eden retorted.

“Aw, saying stuff like that will just make it all the sweeter when you valiantly rescue me.”

“Focus, please.” Eden sighed as he pulled off onto a small side-street to park before they headed to the inconspicuously located Club Shangri-La. 

From the outside you would barely know there was any sort of event space there at all save for a small plaque located on an otherwise plain-looking door that advertised the club’s name in intricate font, only a couple inches in length.

"Where is the gun I gave you?" Eden asked San while looking over his sinfully tight pants as they approached the club.

"Wouldn't you like to know." San laughed, sticking out his hip dramatically.

"Not anymore." Eden rolled his eyes.

"Truth is… I forgot it in the car." San replied in a sing-song voice.

Eden just let out a long sigh and brushed it off. He was packing enough heat for the two of them. As long as he kept San in his sights, everything would be fine.

When they entered the club, it was like being transported to another world. The luxurious interior starkly contrasted to the rather dull exterior and surrounding neighborhood. Eden cautiously approached the hostess and announced his arrival and that he was looking to talk to the club owner, having called ahead to make arrangements to discuss the current situation. The girl scrolled through her schedule book and made a quick note before ushering them inside and taking them to a small back room to wait. It was barely five minutes before the tall and breathtakingly handsome club owner strolled into the room, wearing a rather emotionless expression.

“Hakyeon.” Eden greeted him with a small nod.

“Eden.” He replied with cordial familiarity. “I heard you took the Club Killer case for us. Thank you.”

Eden just inclined his head a bit, the only answer he bothered to give.

“Seen anything suspicious lately?” San asked.

“Not as of yet. I’ve banned all humans from the club who don’t have a vampire escort. And any human who does enter the club has to leave a piece of government-issued ID at the door.” Hakyeon explained. “I can’t risk more of our kind being senselessly murdered.”

“That was a smart move. The chances of this person working alone is pretty high, and not issuing a blanket ban of all humans keeps you from catching too much heat from the press and your patrons.” San commended.

“I  _ have _ been at this for quite some time.” Hakyeon reminded him. “The human-owned vampire clubs don’t seem to have taken any similar precautions. I’ve been told they’ve hired a few new bouncers but that otherwise, they simply expect the hunters to handle it. I would hazard a guess that my club will not be this killer’s hunting ground, as he seems to go for the easy kill.”

“I agree. But we wanted to touch base with you regardless.” Eden told him.

Hakyeon nodded. “If there is anything at all that I can do to help you, you need only ask. Oh, and please don’t do anything to scare away the regulars. I  _ am _ trying to run a business here.”

With that he disappeared back into the bowels of the club, leaving San and Eden to their own devices, free to roam the club in an attempt to gather leads. They did a quick survey of the general size of the club. It was rather small but split into three distinct areas: the bar, the dance floor and a handful of VIP rooms in the back. 

“Right, follow my lead.” San said casually as he led Eden through the club.

Despite it being well after midnight, the club was not as normally crowded as one would have expected for one with such a high reputation. It was evident that news of the killer had been spreading and vampires were becoming more reluctant to be caught outside of their safe covens.

“Make yourself useful and order us some drinks, will you?” San said as he walked over to a small table near the bar and hopped up onto a bar chair, dramatically crossing his legs and leaning over the table while resting his chin on his hand. “I’ll be pretending to be pining over you from over here.”

It took everything within Eden to not chew out San but he took a deep breath and walked over to the bar to grab drinks for them both. It would look too suspicious if they didn’t at least have some sort of alcoholic beverage in their hands. The club wasn’t overly busy but it was still fairly crowded around the main bar. Eden tried and failed to get the bartender’s attention at least a dozen times and he was down to his last nerve.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Eden cursed under his breath as he was ignored for the umpteenth time.

Eden glanced back over his shoulder at San, who looked utterly disappointed in his efforts. San made some over-exaggerated gestures with his hands around his face in an attempt to signal to Eden that he needed to look less threatening followed by San repeatedly—and aggressively—carding his fingers through his hair and tossing his head to the side. San gave a bit of a glare and a nod with his chin, motioning for Eden to turn around and try it. Eden’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he slowly turned back around.

Eden locked eyes with the bartender and time seemed to almost grind to a halt as he reached up and lazily carded his fingers through his shaggy hair before tossing his head to the side.

“What can I get you?” The bartender asked with a sly grin as he walked over to Eden and leaned in close.

“Fuck.” Eden cursed under his breath. He could not believe it had actually worked.

A couple minutes later, Eden returned to San, drinks in hand, sliding one haphazardly across the table. San said nothing but simply pursed his lips in a sarcastic smile while giving a tiny round of applause. Eden despised every bit of him in that single moment. San picked up the small mixed drink and tossed a third of it back, immediately gagging, nearly spitting it back into the glass but managing to choke it down with a series of coughs.

“What the fuck was  _ THAT _ ?!” San exclaimed as his voice cracked in and out of existence, looking at the liquid in the glass.

“Just a little fireball.” Eden scoffed. “What, can’t you handle your liquor?”

“I’m fine.” San squeaked out, followed by another flurry of coughs.

Eden subtly laughed to himself as he nursed his own, comparatively boring drink.

"So, since you said you were the expert in this field. How do you propose we go about this?" Eden asked with a sarcastic wave of his hand.

"Watch, listen, try and pick up on bits and pieces of conversations, then flirt our way into getting the information we need." San replied coolly as he downed the rest of his drink with a painful wheeze.

"Listen? How the hell are we going to be able to hear  _ anything _ over all this noise?" Eden huffed. “We’ve barely been here forty minutes and it’s already giving me a headache.”

San blinked. "Just tune it out?"

"Uhhh…?"

"D’you not—I guess you're still new at all this, huh?" San sighed. "You need to just pick a sound and focus on it. Block everything else out."

Eden gave him a sort of blank stare in disbelief.

"Okay, so." San started to say, listening to the room as if scanning to pick up on the right frequency. "Take that couple over there, three tables away."

San nodded ever so slightly as Eden turned to see a male and female vampire sitting and chatting at a nearby table with a third human. Both vampires had almost platinum blonde hair and stereotypical northern European features.

"They're discussing whether or not you might be that hunter from the Bureau." San said dully.

"What? How do you know? I can't even make out what language they're speaking. Is that... Polish?"

"Russian."

"You. Understand Russian." Eden scoffed.

“I’m no Seonghwa, but I speak thirty-six languages.” San explained casually.

“And you never bothered to say anything?”

“You never asked. But we have bigger issues because we might have already been made."

Eden looked back at the other table who were evidently talking about him now as they were also looking in his direction and whispering to their human companion.

"Shit."

"Come on, let's move. If we're lucky we have one more chance before the entire club is buzzing about your identity." San instructed as he slid off his chair and headed towards the small dance floor.

San blended in seamlessly with the other club-goers. It  _ was _ his scene after all. Eden on the other hand, was still painfully sticking out, hovering at the edge of the dance floor looking far too serious and not at all comfortable.

"Dance with me." San instructed.

"What? No." Eden shot him down.

"If you don't dance with me right now, you're gonna get made… now get over here." San hissed between gritted teeth.

Eden reluctantly did as he was instructed. He was not exactly a dancer by any means and just sort of stiffly moved his body side to side to the beat.

"Now, how many humans can you sense?" San asked while pressing his back to Eden's chest and draping his head back over Eden's shoulder, swaying casually to the music against Eden's robotic movements.

"Two… no three." Eden stated after a brief moment of focus.

"Wrong." San groaned as he turned back around to face Eden. "There are six. Two on the dance floor, three by the bar and one back by the VIP rooms."

"Shit." Even Eden was getting frustrated with himself.

"I thought you said you were a hunter. One of the best…" San trailed off.

"Shut your fucking mouth." Eden hissed. "I'm still learning the ropes from this end, okay?"

San just rolled his eyes and started grinding on a stranger. When another stranger tried to cozy up to Eden everything started to take a downward turn.

“You new here?” The vampire asked, seductively dancing circles around Eden. “I haven’t seen you before. Your scent is absolutely intoxicating…”

“The fuck.” Eden cursed under his breath at the vampire’s advances, not realizing it was quite a normal thing to say between vampires as he was fledgling and the scent of his blood was basically singing out to all those around him.

Eden gave a quick glance over his shoulder looking for San who was fully immersed deep within the small but crowded dance floor. He turned back to the other vampire and decided to attempt to humor them. What could go wrong? Maybe they knew some things and could be valuable to the investigation.

So much could go wrong. And it did.

Eden completely disregarded the subtle and not-so-subtle advances of the stranger and instead went straight into interrogation mode.

“You heard about the vampire clubs killings?” Eden asked offhandedly.

The vampire paused momentarily and just blankly stared at him in mild confusion.

“I mean, yeah, I guess?” They continued, somewhat off-put by the abrupt change in tone.

“Anyone you know been affected?” Eden continued.

“Like, what? Like anyone I know been brutally murdered?” The vampire balked as their confusion mounted.

“Yeah.”

“No? Can’t say anyone I know has been offed by some deranged human scum.” They replied coldly. “But let’s not talk about that. Let’s just have a good time, m’kay?”

The vampire went back to grinding on Eden who was still visibly out of his element.

“Fuck, you smell so good.” The vampire breathed heavily in Eden’s ear.

Eden tried his hardest to not visibly cringe. The vampire slowly dragged their fingers along the lines of Eden’s neck as they circled around in front of him in almost a predatory nature. Taking a strong grip on Eden’s wrist they roughly rolled up his shirt sleeve, bringing his wrist up to their lips, gently nipping down Eden’s forearm.

“Mmmm yesss.” They happily groaned. “Mind if I have a bit of a taste, love?”

Eden, stupidly not knowing what exactly they meant by ‘taste’ obliged with a nod.

The vampire did not hesitate at all in baring their fangs and sinking them into the soft flesh of Eden’s wrist. Eden let out a gasp more in surprise than pain before his hunter senses went into overdrive and took over. In a split second he had ripped his arm free from the vampire’s bite and had aggressively shoved them back against a wall, pinning them in place.

“The fuck you think you’re doing?!” Eden growled as he tightened his grip, blood still dripping from his arm as the bite marks slowly healed. “Who do you work for?!”

"What?! What are you, a cop?" The vampire cried in disbelief.

"What? No." Eden tried to lie suddenly realizing his horrible mistake and letting the vampire go.

By this time San had noticed the commotion and was pushing his way through the crowd to reach Eden.

“What the FUCK!” The vampire angrily shouted at Eden as they angrily wiped the small amount of blood from the corner of their lips that lingered there from the bite.

Many of the other club patrons had also become aware of the scene unfolding in front of them.

“Eden what did you do?!” San hissed, looking around them, taking a strong grip on Eden’s arm and slowly pulling him away from the vampire.

Eden tried to wrench himself free from San, inadvertently pulling up the back of his shirt, revealing one of the guns he had strapped to his person in case of emergency.

“He’s got a gun!” The vampire cried in a panic, having seen the pistol. 

The club seemed to erupt in a mild panic. Out of nowhere, Hakyeon and two rather large and intimidating vampire bouncers had appeared beside them.

“Out.” Hakyeon growled, his eyes burning with rage.

Eden opened his mouth to argue but San quickly clamped one hand tightly over his mouth to prevent him from doing so as the bouncers ushered them outside. They could hear Hakyeon making an announcement to the other patrons to not be alarmed and that there was nothing to worry about.

The night was entirely blown.

"Good job." San scoffed. "Well, this entire night was a write-off thanks to you."

"Shut up." Eden growled. "We’ll just head back to the mansion and regroup for tomorrow."

“Hold up, it looks suspiciously light out already. What time is it?!” San asked in a mild panic.

“Shit. Nearly 6:30 am.” Eden cursed knowing the sun would be rising in the next half-hour, cutting their investigation short. “We need to call it.” He was visibly irritated at this point. “This is by far the most infuriatingly pointless downside of becoming a vampire.”

“Yeah well just wait til you get burned for the first time. Then maybe you’ll understand why the dark is necessary.” San mumbled under his breath.

“The fuck did you say?!” Eden bit back, catching only part of San’s comment.

“Nothing.” San grumbled in a sarcastic tone. “Sunlight bad. Flesh roasty-roast. Yeah, it sucks.  _ I would know.” _

Eden just let out a long sigh as he pulled out his phone to give Seonghwa a quick status update. Within a minute Seonghwa had texted him the address and passcode for a nearby suite of his and the two of them quickly made haste in seeking shelter.

***

The sun was just beginning to peek over the Gangnam high-rises as Eden and San entered Seonghwa’s private hoteling suite. Even though the windows were UV protected, partially out of instinct San quickly kicked off his shoes and immediately went and pulled the blinds closed on every window in the suite. Eden flicked on the lights and they were both somewhat surprised by how small the suite actually was. Definitely not in typical Seonghwa fashion, but due to the location, the suite would probably easily go for well over a million won a night if it were a normal hotel room.

“There’s only one bed…” Eden stated bluntly.

“And there was only  _ one bed _ _._ Whatever would our protagonists do?!” San repeated in a sarcastic narrative tone.

“Whatever. It’s king size. Just. I don’t know, just stay on your fucking side, all right?” Eden grumbled as he walked over and threw his bag on the ground, flopping down on one side of the bed with a tired groan.

San just let out a sigh and wandered around the rest of the small suite, taking everything in. Coming across the minibar, he quickly opened it to discover a full three or four days’ supply of blood bags. “Oh fuck yeah!” He exclaimed, grabbing one for himself and one for Eden.

“Here. You need to eat.” He said as he tossed one to Eden, who was still lying on the bed.

Eden swiftly caught the bag out of the air and pulled it down in front of him to read the ‘nutritional’ info.

“I’m fine. I don’t need it.” Eden grumbled as he placed it on the nightstand beside the bed.

“Have it your way, but if it was Seonghwa offering it, you probably wouldn’t even think twice about taking it.” San gloated as he ripped his own bag open with his teeth before quickly downing the entire thing.

Eden knew he was right. He hated that he was right. He reluctantly grabbed the bag off the nightstand and pulled himself out of bed to at least grab a glass to drink out of. He eventually tracked down a crystal glass by the sinks, rinsing one out habitually before pouring in the blood.

“God, I just fucking hate this.” Eden groaned, sitting on the corner of the bed and tossing back the blood. “I figured becoming a vampire would mean I’d get a big boost to my stamina but I’m just so fucking exhausted from doing literally nothing.”

San blinked, regarding him for a moment. “It seemed like your senses were getting overwhelmed. That’s probably why you’re worn out. Too much stimulus. Is your head still hurting?”

“Yeah, s’pounding like crazy.” Eden mumbled, setting his glass aside.

San stood, tossing away his empty blood bag. “Want me to help?”

Eden glared at him. “I promise that you giving me a blow job is not going to help.”

San rolled his eyes. “Nothing  _ sexual,  _ you prick. Just ancient medicine. Seonghwa’s a lot better at it than I am, but I know where acupoints are. I have a working knowledge of Tui Na.”

“Uh.”

“Acupressure. Completely non-sexual touching. Promise.” San explained slowly, sitting next to him on the bed. “Here, gimme your hand.”

San held out his own, but Eden hesitated, which made him huff.

“C’mon, I won’t bite. Or grope. I  _ did  _ promise.” San reasoned.

Finally, Eden acquiesced. San took the hunter’s hand into his own and found the pressure-point between his index finger and thumb, pressing down hard and massaging it in slow circles. 

He kept at it for some time, moving to the other hand after a while. Eden could feel his pain bleeding away, the tension easing from the back of his neck.

“Better?” San asked finally, letting him go.

“Yeah… actually.” Eden answered, sounding surprised. “Where’d you even learn that? From Seonghwa?”

“Yeah. I’ve been alive for over ninety years and have been with Seonghwa for more than seventy of them. It’d be weirder if I  _ hadn’t  _ learned anything from him.” San replied.

“I suppose that’s true.” Eden mumbled.

“Anyway, we should get some sleep.” San said, getting to his feet.

The stop had been completely unplanned, which meant they weren’t prepared with any kind of sleep clothes… so the two of them ended up stealing the complimentary bathrobes. That way, they wouldn’t be stuck in their clubbing clothes, or just in their underwear.

Eden had said at first that it was fine… it wasn’t as though they hadn’t seen each other completely naked before, so sleeping in close proximity in just boxer-briefs wasn’t the most absurd suggestion ever.

San, however, just smirked and cocked out a hip. “Bold of you to assume I’m wearing  _ anything  _ under these pants. These babies are  _ painted  _ on.”

At that, Eden could only roll his eyes and demand they use the robes.

“Stay on your side.” He reminded as they settled in. It wasn’t nearly as large as Seonghwa’s massive bed, but with just the two of them, there was a veritable chasm between them when they climbed in at either edge.

“I know, I know.” San dismissed, burritoing himself into the blankets and getting comfortable with what Eden considered to be far too many pillows. “Nighty night.”

“Night.” Eden grunted, turning away.

He wasn’t sure he’d sleep a wink, but after too long, the darkness claimed him, dragging him down into its blissful silence.

***

Eden was the first to wake in the evening. Furrowing his brow he slowly opened his eyes and deeply inhaled, more out of habit than anything else. It was at that exact moment he realized San was  _ not  _ on his side of the bed. Eden’s entire body went rigid; San’s face was mere inches from his, his body pressed tightly against Eden with his fists tightly balled into Eden’s shirt. Despite a vampire having a naturally low body temperature, San had still gravitated toward him automatically for warmth, nestling his head in the small space between Eden’s chin and collarbone. 

Eden didn’t dare move an inch.

Eden didn’t dare do anything… mostly because he didn’t even know what he even  _ should _ do. His entire thought process seemed to have shut down and lost contact with his body as he rigidly lay there.

But it didn’t feel  _ bad _ . It felt… nice. Comforting? 

Maybe it would be okay if he just let San stay like that. It would be inconsiderate to disturb him and wake him from such a peaceful slumber. And so Eden just left him there, calmly watching over him as he slept, mildly panicking every time San stirred ever so slightly.

An hour or so later, San finally woke with a small hum. Eden immediately shut his eyes, pretending to still be asleep but listening intently to every move San made. San gave another small hum as he realized his close proximity to Eden, cautiously loosening his grasp on Eden’s shirt. At that moment Eden decided to ‘wake up’ and opened his eyes, only to come face to face with San looking like the epitome of a ‘deer in the headlights’.

“San, what the fuck?!” Eden loudly groaned, pretending to have just surveyed the situation.

“Eden, I—”

Before San could finish his thought, Eden had firmly lodged a foot under San’s rib-cage and using his entire force, ejected San from his immediate proximity by launching him completely off the bed. San went tumbling head over heels with a guttural ‘HGGGUUUHHHH’ sound, taking the duvet with him and landing face-down in the middle of the floor.

“Sorry.” He let out a muffled cry while remaining face-down.

It was another ten minutes before San slowly started to pick himself up off the floor. He pulled himself up into a sitting position and just sat there with the duvet wrapped around him. Pulling out his phone, he started frantically texting someone.

"We should probably start getting ready to head out for the night."

"No." San replied bluntly, casually tossing his phone to the side.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Eden blinked in surprise. "You giving up on the mission already? Figured as much…"

Eden had struck a nerve. San glared angrily at a spot on the wall.

"I hate saying this," San said coldly, "but honestly,  _ you're _ the weak link in this investigation right now. Not me."

Eden sat there in silence.

"Unless you want to blow this entire mission, there is no way we are going back out there until you learn a thing or two about working the club scene. Or how to act. Or like… what  _ emotions _ are."

"Okay, then… teach me." Eden stated bluntly with an air of sarcasm.

“It’s not that easy. You’re prickly and shouty and you won’t  _ listen _ to me. You don’t take me seriously at all, even if it’s something we’ve established I’m proficient in.”

“Well you haven’t given me much reason to take you seriously.” Eden replied flatly.

San bristled. “Fuck you. Y’know, if I were a fucking meat-headed cactus like you, I would’ve knocked your fucking fangs out for that. But I’ve got self-restraint, so I won’t. But we aren’t gonna get  _ anywhere  _ with you acting like this.”

“You? Punch me? I’d like to see you try.” Eden balked.

San stared at him with absolutely no emotion showing on his face. His expression was so blank that it was almost eerie. “Make no mistake, I could lay you out before you even knew what hit you.”

Eden huffed a laugh, standing and rolling his shoulders. “All right, then, let’s see what you’ve—”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence before he was suddenly staring at the ceiling, San gripping his wrist and throat in an iron hold with one knee on his chest pinning him down. He hadn’t even seen him  _ move. _

“Let’s get a couple things straight here. I have been a vampire for longer than you’ve been  _ alive.  _ I died in the crossfire of a fucking  _ war  _ you only ever learned about in  _ primary school.  _ I may not kill vampires for a  _ living  _ but I can hold my own against the likes of  _ you.  _ I’m older than you, I’m stronger than you, I could rip out your throat before you could even manage to call for help.” San snarled, anger bleeding into his voice despite his restraint. “So don’t take that  _ fucking  _ tone with me, and don’t act like I’m useless. Ribbing at me for fun is all fine and cute but  _ don’t  _ presume to  _ disrespect  _ me.”

Eden just blinked up at San, shocked. 

"I know last night you were merely humoring me. Wanting me to think I had some sort of control of the situation when really you were just waiting for the moment I fucked up to take over and jerk off your ego. But  _ you _ fucked things up Eden, not me,  _ you. _ Your body language is a horrible tell and your attitude is constantly full of blatant disrespect and I'm fucking sick of it."

Eden tried to sputter out some sort of excuse but San merely tightened his grip on his throat so as not to be interrupted.

"Your physical intimidation tactics ain't gonna work anymore, got it? Any inch you think you had over me was only because I let you have it. I wouldn't normally fight a fledgling but man you're  _ really _ pushing the line here."

San sat there in silence for a moment, just glaring down at Eden who was trying his hardest to avoid any sort of eye contact. As if a flip had switched within him, San loosened his grip and got back to his feet, letting out a long sigh while smiling brightly and giving his back and arms an exaggerated stretch.

"Man it felt so good to get that all out." He said in a chipper tone.

Eden slowly picked himself up off the floor as the bruises on his neck began to fade. He eyed San, trying to process what had just happened and how this child currently standing in front of him was the same person threatening to rip out his throat not two minutes earlier.

But San had made a point. He  _ wasn’t  _ a child. He was nearly one hundred.

For Eden, it was easy to look past Seonghwa’s youthful visage due to his outward eloquence and wisdom. But with San… it was hard to not just see him as a needy teenager. He supposed that wasn’t particularly fair, no matter how San chose to present himself.

“Now, I’m gonna go shower, and then we are going to figure out just what the hell our plan is from here.” San said, heading for the bathroom.

It brooked no argument, but Eden didn’t feel like arguing anyway.

Eden busied himself packing up his phone charger and collecting all the jewelry he’d hastily thrown off before bed. However, he couldn’t help but hear sniffling and shaky sobs beneath the sounds of the shower water running.

Was San… crying?

Eden snorted softly, shaking his head. For all of San’s bluster in that moment, he really was sensitive. 

After San had showered and had a cry (which Eden studiously avoided bringing up as though his life depended on it), he emerged from the bathroom looking refreshed, if a bit puffy-faced.

“Okay! I hope you’re ready, because San’s Flirting 101 Seminar starts  _ now.” _

Eden grimaced. It was going to be a  _ long  _ night.

***

Strictly speaking, Eden couldn’t even  _ remember  _ the last time he had consciously attempted to flirt with someone.

Perhaps a clever quip he’d directed at Seonghwa in years’ past could have been categorized as a flirtation, if one squinted.

So, when San looked him in the eyes and told him, “Flirt with me as though I was a stranger,” Eden had promptly floundered.

“Why do I have to  _ flirt,  _ exactly?” He whined. “Why can’t we just… have a conversation?”

“Because people go to clubs to have fun. They aren’t expecting an interrogation.” San reasoned. “Imagine that I’m some sexy stranger at the club and my brain is brimming with crucial information. But, my brain is a prude and won’t just willingly give it up to just  _ anyone  _ who asks.”

“What the fuck is that metaphor even supposed to mean?” Eden hissed.

“It means you’re going to have to work for your information. Verbal foreplay to get to the leads residing in my big, sexy brain.”

“I hate this.” Eden grunted.

San ignored him. “So. How do you approach me?”

Eden let out a frustrated sigh but casually slid up beside San.

“Come here often?”

San rolled his eyes. “Wrong. Too basic. Try again.”

Eden gritted his teeth, swallowing down a nasty retort in favor of doing as he asked. “I’m new to this part of town and I’m looking for a good time…”

San regarded him for a moment. “Still basic, but better. Proceed.”

“Uh. That’s all I had.” Eden admitted, frowning.

San gave an over-dramatic sigh. “Oh, come on. We were making progress! At least I thought we were!”

Eden let out a huff of frustration. “Look, this isn’t my area of expertise  _ and  _ I don’t even feel that way about you. Why can't I just practice with someone I actually care about? Like Seonghwa."

"You don't just  _ get _ Seonghwa.” San rebuffed. “You have to  _ earn _ Seonghwa."

“Didn’t I?” Eden countered. “I’ve known him for over a decade.”

“And he spent the entirety of it patching up your wittle boo-boos and hiding you away from us. Given how emotionally constipated you still are around him, I’d hazard a guess that you wouldn’t even be able to successfully flirt with him, either, despite being head over heels for the man.”

“...ouch. But… fair.” Eden conceded.

“Think of it like this…” San continued in a somewhat coercive tone, “if you get good enough at this, we’ll be able to successfully navigate our way through the club scene to sniff out a lead on this case  _ and  _ you’ll have a new skill with which to impress—and seduce—Seonghwa.”

“I don’t… think it works that way.” Eden grumbled.

“Oh, so he  _ didn’t  _ act like he wanted to completely devour you after seeing your sexy new clubbing look?” San bit back.

If Eden still had the capacity to blush, he would have gone red as a tomato in that moment, merely remembering just how eagerly Seonghwa had helped him kill time while San was getting ready. “I… uh… guess you… have a point.”

“Exactly. Now, let’s try again.” San insisted, clapping his hands together.

***

It was grueling. Eden wasn’t getting the hang of it. He felt too awkward, it was  _ embarrassing,  _ and Eden had never been a natural at acting  _ or  _ at flirting, so he was completely out of his depth in more ways than one.

San was clearly frustrated, but he was patient. He never  _ just  _ shut Eden down, always offering valid reasons along with his criticisms and following them up with tips to help him improve. In that regard, San was actually a good teacher.

Eden just… wasn’t the best student.

"Let's take a break." San said eventually, sighing as he flopped down on the bed. "I'm exhausted already."

Eden paced the small room in front of him in frustration, wracking his brain and trying to process all the things San had been attempting to teach him.

There was a soft knock on the door and a look of relief spread across San's face.

"Oh good, they're here." San said as he got up to answer the door.

"Here? What's here?" Eden questioned as San breezed past him and pulled the door to the suite open without hesitation.

In walked one of the hotel staff, pulling a large clothing rack behind him.

"Delivery from Mr. Kang Yeosang." The hotel staff noted.

"Perfect! Thank you!" San beamed, his dimples as prominent as ever.

He tipped the staff and quickly went to work surveying all the clothing and various other contents loaded onto the rack.

"What is all this?" Eden balked.

"If we are going to be holed up in this place we are going to need a change in wardrobe. So I had some essentials sent; a dozen or so different outfit choices for the both of us and my emergency makeup kit." San pulled out something that looked like a large suitcase that comically housed his 'emergency' makeup rations.

"When did you even—how did you—"

"Well while you were berating me earlier, I was texting Yeosang asking him to throw some stuff together and have it couriered here." San replied smugly.

Eden couldn't believe how quick and how thorough San was in his planning and he was honestly slightly awestruck.

"Uh, well, s'great." Eden mumbled as he went back to his pacing.

San gave a small, satisfied smile as he began unpacking some of the makeup.

The break was helpful. Eden definitely needed it… even if it was a little awkward just sitting around while San hummed to himself as he organized his cosmetics on the vanity. Once he was finished, however, he jumped up and clapped his hands together.

“All right… let’s give it another go!”

His chipper enthusiasm didn’t do anything for Eden’s confidence. He wasn’t sure he would  _ ever  _ master flirting.

Eden had done his fair share of investigations, but this was taking him completely out of his comfort zone. He was entirely out of his depth, and that was never more apparent than when San stared at him with hooded eyes and told him to try his best.

Eden knew that San was a… sexual being. He was very much someone who craved intimacy. So the only way he was going to impress San, Eden reasoned, was to be  _ very  _ forward.

He cleared his throat, crowding San in against the nearest wall.

“You seem like you’re looking for a good time.” He murmured, the words feeling somewhat convincing, at least in his own mind. Eden ran one hand up San’s thigh while he slid his other hand up under the back of San’s shirt and cradled the small of his back. 

Without notice, San slapped him across the face.  _ Hard. _

Eden stumbled back a step while reaching up to survey the damage inflicted upon his cheek, glaring at San smugly standing in front of him.

“Too far.” San said, crossing his arms.

“What the fuck.” Eden growled as he lunged for San, roughly grabbing onto his shirt collar and slamming him up against the wall, crowding into his space.

“Annnnd you just got made for assaulting one of the club patrons. Again. WRONG.” San scolded him, completely unaffected by Eden’s aggressiveness.

Eden just held him pinned against the wall as the anger slowly dissipated within him. Briefly they made eye contact, and San’s stare was unusually cold. Eden’s gaze slowly traveled down to San’s lips, hesitating slightly before travelling down to his neck and crumpled shirt collar. Eden loosened his grip on San’s shirt and took a step back.

“Sorry.” He grumbled as he turned and walked away from San. “Fuck.”

“That would’ve been fine if it was  _ me.” _ San told him, feeling somewhat merciful. “You know me. You know what I like, and what my comfort level is. I know it’s hard, but you need to pretend I’m someone else. A stranger. You can’t mack on a stranger like that unless they’re coming on  _ really  _ strong.”

Eden pressed his lips together, but nodded. “All right. Let me try again.”

***

It took hours.

Hours of Eden trying and failing, trying and making small amounts of progress, trying and eventually succeeding.

Failure was earning himself a slap or a grimace from San, who would instruct him to start again.

Success was seeing San’s eyes light up with interest or—even better—when he looked impressed, inclining his head and encouraging him with a soft, “Go on.”

Excitement was seeing San’s eyebrows go up in surprise at a particularly clever remark, especially when San pressed his lips together and cooed, “Ooh, well played.” 

And victory… victory was finally,  _ finally  _ having San bite his lip and cheekily admit, “That would  _ certainly  _ have worked on me.”

Eden wasn’t exactly sure why  _ that  _ had become a particular goal of his, but impressing San at this particular game  _ had  _ become his driving force over the past several hours.

It was nearly sunrise by the time San finally called it, patting Eden gently on the cheek after a decent, but obviously worn-out, flirtation.

_ _ “I think that’s enough for now.”

Eden frowned. “Did I fuck it up again?”

"No! Actually, I hate to say it, but I think you've finally got the hang of things!" San said excitedly.

"If you say so…" Eden grumbled.

"Watch out Seoul, Eden's on the prowl!" San exclaimed with a jubilant fist pump.

"Okay that's enough. Calm down. It ain't that serious." Eden said with a bit of a huff, cracking a smile.

"Alrighty then, watch out Seoul, Eden is mediocre enough at showing emotions that he might actually come across as a socially functional being!"

"...too far." Eden shot him a perturbed look.

San gave a sly smirk before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Regardless of the dig, Eden had a good feeling about the mission, now. He was confident they could make some headway on the investigation come the following night.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the second official night on the case and Eden had picked out a rather large club known as Black Heart that was located only a short walk away from their suite in Gangnam. San was confident that they would make a lot of progress—however—Eden was slightly less optimistic. Not because of his own abilities, but because having been working cases like these for decades, he knew that finding the culprit wasn’t as easy as just one or two nights’ work.

“Yunho said he sent you some new intel.” San noted as he finished putting on his makeup.

“Yeah, looks like the perp is definitely male and definitely human.” Eden said as he holstered two small pistols that would be hidden under a smart navy-blue blazer that San had picked out for him.

San looked over at Eden with a blank expression. “That’s it?” 

Eden paid no attention to him and continued sorting through the various weapons he had brought with him, mulling over which he should keep on his person on this particular night.

San raised his eyebrows in a mocking manner as he turned back to the mirror to finish his eyeshadow. “That’s really not anything new or anything to work with.” He grumbled.

“We’re looking for someone who seems out of place. Someone who looks like they don’t fit in with the vampire crowd… a loner. Someone who seems generally uncomfortable.”

“So… you?” San quipped as he made eye contact with Eden in the reflection of the mirror.

Eden closed his eyes and inhaled deeply in an effort to calm himself down, trying to keep himself from lashing out at San.

“Yes, someone like me.” Eden responded finally with gritted teeth.

San gave a playful kiss towards Eden through the mirror reflection. Eden just rolled his eyes.

“Hurry up and finish getting ready, I want to be there when they open.”

San let out a snort of a laugh. “As if anyone actually shows up before midnight at any club, and here you want to get there by—” San checked the time on his phone. “10pm. We might not get made for casing the place but we would definitely get made as being huge losers.”

“Okay, fine. You lead this one.” Eden said, knowing he should probably follow San’s advice no matter how crass he might be at giving it. “We’ll leave when you wanna.”

“Good.” San chirped. “Because I’m going to be at this for at least another twenty minutes, and then we have to work on yours…”

Eden let out a small groan of protest, but twenty minutes later, he was still letting San doll him up.

That didn’t mean he had to like it, though.

***

Much closer to midnight—a far more reasonable hour, San insisted—the two of them rolled up to Black Heart. The line was thinner than San had ever seen it, and that could likely be blamed on their unsolved murder cases. 

“This is why I wanted to get here early.” Eden grumbled, eyeing the still-concerning line.

“Please.” San said with a roll of his eyes, bypassing the entire line and waltzing straight up to the burly, intimidating bouncer. “Junyoungie!” He called.

“Well, if it isn’t the prodigal son finally returned to us.” The bouncer scoffed.

“You know you missed me.” San batted his eyelashes and gave a playful pout.

The bouncer grinned and motioned for San to cut the line and head inside. Eden was close behind him but was immediately blocked from entering.

“Woah there buddy.” The bouncer said, sticking out his arm to stop Eden. “Haven’t seen you here before.”

Eden went to open his mouth to say something when he saw San in his peripheral vision motion with his finger to stay silent. He could feel the heat already boiling inside him as he did not like leaving control of the situation to San one bit, but he knew he had to trust him.

“Junyoungie, don’t worry, he’s with me.” San said, doubling back and gently taking a hold of Eden’s wrist.

The bouncer gave a raised eyebrow as he looked between the two of them.

“He seems a little older than your usual type.” The bouncer commented.

“And what exactly is my type again?” San said as he devilishly flicked the underside of the bouncer’s chin with his pointer finger. “Eden here is just a wittle baby.”

San reached over and pinched Eden’s cheek. Eden’s fists clenched tightly at his sides as he used every ounce of composure in his body to keep his cool.

“All right, go ahead.” The bouncer lowered his arm and San was quick to pull Eden into the club behind him.

“When we get home, remind me to kill you.” Eden muttered under his breath.

“Aw, did I offend the wittle baby?” San playfully mocked Eden.

“You’re _ really _ pushing it.” Eden growled through gritted teeth.

“You really gonna lay a hand on me in public?” San said, his tone becoming a lot darker all of a sudden. “You really think that’s a good idea? Try it. I dare you.”

Eden saw something mildly terrifying flash in San’s eyes and immediately backed off.

“Okay, let’s get to work!” San said in a chipper tone with a clap of his hands. “First test: how many humans?”

Eden carefully surveyed the interior of the large club, which consisted of a dance floor surrounded by large booths on three sides. Focusing his hearing, he slowly started to remove the distracting noises around him and just focus on picking up the sound of humans; breathing, heartbeats…

“Twelve. Seven on the dance floor, two in the booths to the right, two in the booths to the back and one in the booths to the left.”

“Woooow I’m impressed!” San exclaimed, giving him a small round of applause. “But…”

“What. But what.” Eden bit back.

“You missed the one human in the restrooms downstairs.”

“Give me a break.” Eden grumbled, though he was clearly frustrated with himself. “I don’t have supersonic bat hearing like you and Seonghwa, okay?”

“Oof, harsh.” San scoffed. “But still, you’ve gotten a lot better and I’m impressed.”

“Thanks… I guess.”

The booths around the dance floor provided the perfect raised vantage point of the area. Luckily for San and Eden, since the club wasn’t as packed as normal, they were able to snag one of the central booths at the back of the floor. 

“Now,” San began to say. “People will start thinking it weird if we are just two dudes, sitting five feet apart in a booth at a club.” He scooted up beside Eden and pulled Eden’s hands up on top of the table, intertwining his fingers with Eden’s.

He also laid his head against Eden’s shoulder and would fondly gaze up and whisper in Eden’s ear when he saw something of interest, occasionally nipping at Eden’s neck or ear in the process to really sell it. Eden slowly started to lean into San’s act, gently drawing circles with his thumb into the back of San’s hand or nuzzling his chin against the top of San’s head.

They spent a solid hour scanning the crowd, trying to narrow down possible suspects. Of the thirteen humans in the club, nine were female, leaving four males. San recognized one of the guys from Club Shangri-La, eliminating him from the pool of suspects. 

That left three.

Of the three, only one was consistently alone. He seemed to be scanning the room almost as much as they were, which made him somewhat suspicious. San had his eyes set on him.

Without any warning, San straightened up and turned to face Eden, straddling his lap as he did so.

“So this is how it’s gonna be.” San whispered in Eden’s ear as he leaned in close, running his fingers through Eden’s hair. “See the guy on the edge of the floor there?”

Eden shifted his gaze slightly over San’s shoulder as San balled his free hand in Eden’s shirt.

“He fits the profile. He’s been alone all night and just… watching.” San continued.

Eden hummed in agreement, looking between the human and San, who had somehow managed to crowd his space even more despite already being perched comfortably on his lap.

“I’m gonna go for it. But we gotta make this look convincing first because he hasn’t just been watching the vampires on the floor, but us as well. Follow my lead.”

San roughly pushed Eden’s head back and proceeded to run his tongue up the entire length of Eden’s neck. A small gasp escaped Eden’s lips, more out of surprise than anything else as he desperately tried to keep his composure for the nth time that night. When San reached the base of his jaw he began outlining the next steps in a hushed voice.

“Put your hands on my back and pull me in closer.” San instructed and Eden quickly complied. “Now I’m going to kiss you. Let it linger a few seconds before angrily shoving me off. He won’t question if an angry partner is glaring in his direction all night while I do my thing so we need to have a believable spat.”

“That won’t be a probl—mMM!” San hadn’t let him finish the thought before he was already licking into Eden’s mouth.

Eden let out another small hum as San continued his act. The things he was doing with his tongue were absolutely _ sinful _. Since Eden had momentarily lost track of how long things had been progressing, San had to rock his hips slightly in a signal for him to react.

“What the fuck?!” Eden shouted as he roughly shoved San back, causing him to clumsily splay across the small table located in the booth.

San looked almost like he had been taken completely by surprise by Eden’s aggressions, but the flash of a small devilish smirk and a quick wink alerted Eden otherwise.

“The fuck you think you’re doing?!” Eden continued.

“But baby, you said you liked that!” San whined with a pout.

“The_ hell _I do.” Eden growled as he got to his feet.

He grabbed the front of San’s shirt and roughly yanked him up into a sitting position on the table.

“How dare you try to manhandle me like that.” San snarled coldly while yanking his shirt free of Eden’s grip and slapping Eden hard across the face.

Eden’s eyes glared fiercely at the floor as he clenched his jaw to keep himself from physically fighting San.

“I’m done. Fuck this.” San said angrily, throwing his hands up as he hopped off the table and cockily strode towards the dance floor.

Eden slowly sat back down, motioning for one of the club staff to bring him another drink.

“Fuck, he’s good.” Eden muttered to himself as he downed the remaining contents of his first drink.

San’s plan had worked perfectly, as Eden was quickly made to be the brooding partner, jealously watching from afar. As such, he was able to keep an eye on San for the remainder of the night with everyone remaining none the wiser.

San didn’t immediately approach the mark. Instead, he played the crowd first for several songs, dancing with and grinding on random strangers. He couldn’t make it too obvious that his sights were set on any one person.

Luckily for him, after another song, a group sat down at the booth next to the guy. He could make this work. He sauntered over toward the edge of the dance floor, noticing when one of the guys in the small group of three in the booth to the guy’s left stared a bit too intensely to be considered subtle.

“You tryna get some?” San asked seductively, running his tongue over his fangs.

The stranger looked San up and down while giving a small scowl in disgust.

“I’m not into necrophilia.”

“Well then you’re in the _ wrong _club, handsome. And besides, there’s nothing dead about this dick, baby.” San quipped back with a lewd wink, sliding his hand down over the fly of his pants.

Eden gagged silently from his vantage point, rolling his eyes. San was truly ridiculous.

“What about you?” San asked, letting his gaze slide over to his mark, who was just one table over. “You looking for a good time?”

The man startled slightly before his shoulders went rigid, his expression becoming hard. “I don’t know if our idea of a good time is the same.”

San’s brows perked up at that. “Oh? Well, I know I’ve got a baby face, but I’ve been around a long time and done all _ sorts _of things… so why don’t you try me?”

The man’s eyes seemed to shift in interest. “Mm. You strike me as someone in need of a lot of discipline. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in _ trying?” _

San shivered a little, because it wouldn’t be out of the question for their killer to use the excuse of being some kind of brat-taming dominant to control his victims before taking them out. He hated the idea that someone might be using the guise of BDSM for such a horrible purpose.

He got on his hands and knees, crawling over to the man and sitting just next to his seat. He remained on the floor, looking up at him in a way that made him look desperate and needy.

“If you think you can handle me, I would be open to _ anything.” _San assured, sliding a hand up over the guy’s thigh.

It was snatched up almost instantly and wrenched away at a painful angle. “You don’t touch without permission. That’s lesson number one.”

San let out a soft, pained sound, wanting the guy to think he was easily hurt and controlled. “Oh, I’m _ so _sorry… sir?”

The man practically leered at that, his grip tightening. “So you _ do _have some manners after all.”

“Yes, sir, I do. I can be good, I promise.” San cooed, slinking up into the man’s lap and straddling him. “Would you like to go somewhere else, sir? Somewhere more _ private?” _

San could not help but let out a soft cry when he was slapped across the face _ hard. _

“We go when and where _ I _ say we go.” The man hissed, releasing his hand to seize San by the throat. “If I want to have my fun with you in front of everyone, then I will. If I want to go somewhere private, then I will. _ You _ will learn to be _ obedient.” _

San—expert actor that he was—let tears spring to the corners of his eyes as he nodded, trying to sound breathless despite not needing to breathe. “Y-yessir, I’m sorry, sir.”

The man just sneered, pivoting until he could pin San to the booth on his back, bracing his legs atop the vampire’s while still holding him by his throat. “Now—”

The weight was suddenly off of San, and when he looked up, he could see Eden standing there, having hauled the human off of him with a look of murderous intent on his face.

“Eden—!”

“Get your filthy fucking hands off of him.” Eden growled, tossing the guy down onto the opposite booth. “Let me guess, you thought you’d have an easy target with him, huh? You’re getting bolder if you thought you could get away with killing someone right here on the floor.”

“Wait… what?” The guy sputtered, his tough Dom act dropping away instantly. “L-look, I saw you slap him around and I thought he was into that. I wasn’t trying to kill anyone! Choking doesn’t even hurt vampires, right? And he didn’t say anything!”

San grimaced. It was abundantly clear that this wasn’t their killer. “Eden, stop. This isn’t our guy.”

Eden hesitated for a moment, his hand halting where it had been going for his gun. “What?”

“He’s clearly just a shitty Dom-wannabe.” San grumbled, standing and putting a quelling hand on his arm before rounding on the human. “Yeah, _ shitty. _ You need to straight up ask for consent first before you pull that with a stranger. And you never asked for my safeword! You’re the _ worst _fucking kind of wannabe Dom and you give real practitioners of BDSM a bad name. You should be ashamed of yourself!”

The guy swallowed, looking down. “I-I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Eden glared in complete disgust, shaking his head. “Just get out of here. Go.”

The man nodded and bolted, clearly happy to be let off without any harm coming to his person.

“Are you oka—?”

“What the fuck is your problem?” San spat before Eden could even finish his question.

“Uh… what?”

“I had it under control. I can handle myself against a _ human, _Eden. I didn’t need you to go all alpha-male-protector-mode, okay?” San sighed. “I could have stopped him at any time. We established I know how to defend myself. But you still didn’t trust me.”

Eden balked, floundering. “San, it wasn’t about trust, I—”

“Save it.” San bit back, crossing his arms. “At best, you ruined what coulda been an okay fuck. At _ worst _you ruined our chances of catching the guy. Let’s just… let’s just get out of here, this night’s a bust.”

He huffed before stalking off toward the exit, Eden following dazedly behind, wondering where it had all gone wrong.

This night had obviously gone to hell in a handbasket, and would be another one for the ‘epic failure’ column.

***

“I honestly can’t believe you.” San grumbled as the two of them stalked into their hotel suite. He angrily flung his coat onto the bed, rounding on Eden. “Right in the middle of things!”

“Sorry.” Eden replied with a sigh.

“Now I’m all riled up and just… UGH!” San’s entire body seemed to momentarily vibrate with frustration as he aggressively ruffled his hair. “Just like, go put on a pair of headphones or something. I’m going to go take a shower. A _ very long _ shower.”

“Wait, you’re mad at me because you’re _ horny?” _Eden balked.

San made a face. “Well, yeah. You either fucked up the investigation by interrupting me seducing the mark or you fucked up my night by cockblocking me seducing _ not _ the killer, so, yes. I’m pissed _ and _horny.”

“You’d think after a century you’d learn some sort of impulse control.” Eden quipped under his breath.

“Oh I’m sorry, but did you not realize we literally live in a house filled with horny vampires? There’s never been a need for anything like ‘impulse control’ when I can just walk down the hall, shout ‘who wants to dick me down’ and have someone happily oblige.”

Eden grimaced.

“Now if you would excuse me, I have some things to take care of.” San shoved past Eden and was quick to start up the shower and lock himself in the small bathroom.

Eden did his _ very _best to tune San out, but not being in the best control of his vampire senses just yet, it was…. difficult, if not impossible.

He gave a sigh and cranked his music higher. It was going to be a _ long _day.

***

The next night, San and Eden’s search led them to a small club on the fringes of Hongdae.

The two of them were scanning the crowded club, looking for anyone fitting their profile when San unintentionally made eye contact with a young female vampire in the crowd.

"Oh no." San's voice had gone small and quiet as he noticed the girl angrily making a beeline through the crowd straight towards him.

"What?" Eden asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, just pretend you don't know me." San hissed as he quickly turned his back to the approaching girl.

No sooner had he turned his back than she had firmly placed a hand on his shoulder and aggressively spun him back around to face her.

"Choi San you son of a bitch!" She growled, her eyes wild as she slapped him hard across the face.

The noise from the slap almost seemed to reverberate off the walls of the club as several curious club patrons turned to see what the sudden commotion was about.

"R-Rosé!" San stuttered out in a high-pitched tone as he carefully cupped his throbbing cheek in his hand.

"I take it you know her?" Eden grumbled.

"We hooked up a few times in the 80's." San whimpered.

_ "Hooked up?!" _ Rosé repeated in rage-induced disbelief, crowding into San's space. "We _ dated _ for THREE YEARS! And you _ GHOSTED _ ME!"

Eden raised an eyebrow while looking between the two of them.

"I wouldn't have guessed she was your type." He said under his breath and he took a long swig of his drink.

"And just who the fuck are you exactly?" Rosé scowled, turning on Eden and eyeing him up and down. "San's boyfriend? His new fuck toy?"

Eden spat his drink back into his glass, having been blindsided by the comment, and gave a couple exaggerated coughs.

"The fuck I am." Eden retorted angrily.

"Eden is a fledgling from my coven." San explained, shoving his body between the two of them and forcing Rose back a couple paces. "He's new to this scene. Chill."

"Chill?!" Rosé repeated with a huff. "Honey, you could do _ so _ much better." She shouted at Eden, straining to see him over San's shoulder.

"Can you please not make a scene right now?" San pleaded, lightly taking a hold of Rosé's wrist in an attempt to guide her to somewhere less public where they could talk.

"Don't fucking TOUCH me." Rosé exclaimed as she twisted her arm to wrench free of San's grip.

"M'sorry, m'sorry!" San quipped as he quickly raised his hands in defeat and took a step back.

Rosé had become much stronger since San had known her but he also didn't want to push her boundaries. Nor did he want to draw attention to himself while he and Eden were trying to work.

"I'm so sorry." San began. "For everything. Please forgive me. It’s been decades. I thought this was all behind us."

Rosé crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. San cautiously approached her again. He hovered his hands over her shoulders. He wanted to touch her out of comfort but knew he could easily lose half his fingers doing so. Slowly he withdrew his hands and shoved them into his pockets.

"Bullshit." She hissed.

"Can we at least shake on being civil towards each other?" San asked, extending a hand.

Rosé looked between his outstretched hand and his begging gaze. She hesitated slightly before extending her hand in a firm grasp. San smiled brightly. But it was short lived and she immediately pulled him in close and floored him with a judo throw.

"Get the fuck out of my club." She growled. "I never want to see your face again."

"Fair enough." San wheezed as Eden helped to pick him up off the ground.

As soon as they were outside the club San breathed a sigh of relief.

"Here I thought you might actually be a force to be reckoned with… but you just got floored by that tiny girl." Eden scoffed.

San shot him a glare. "Who do you think taught her that?" San grumbled as he gave his neck a roll. "Let's stay away from Blacklight clubs from now on. I don't need to get my ass kicked any more than the once."

"Seems like you deserved that one." Eden quipped.

"Yep." San replied with a raise of his eyebrows. "And we will not be bringing it up again."

Eden shrugged, but he would _ definitely _be bringing it up again, in the not-so-distant future.

***

For the first time in many weeks, the mansion’s landline rang. The use of the phone was so infrequent that the sound almost seemed foreign amongst the normal sounds heard within the mansion. At the same time, the entire household seemed to go dead-silent once it started. Seonghwa had been reading quietly with Wooyoung in the library, as Yeosang had been overcome with a sudden need to tinker on his drones manically again, an obsession that came and went with time.

Upon hearing the shrill ring of the telephone, Seonghwa immediately stopped what he was doing and turned to look in the direction of the noise. Wooyoung could see the mild panic in his eyes as the phone was barely used except in rather serious Coven or Bureau-related matters.

“Odd…” Seonghwa breathed, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“That can’t be good…” Wooyoung muttered as Seonghwa stalked away to answer it.

“Good eve—”

“Park Seonghwa you have some nerve!” The female voice on the other end asserted angrily.

“Chungha?” Seonghwa asked in confusion, having recognized the leader of the Coven of Blacklight’s voice. “I beg your pardon?”

“I know your coven has been growing in numbers recently but you need to learn to _ control _ your members. The sheer _ audacity _. I can’t even… Do you even realize how long it took for me to calm Rosé down?”

“I am very sorry but I haven’t the faintest clue as to what you are referring to. But I can assure you that the members of my coven are never out to intentionally cause trouble or spread any ill will.” Seonghwa rebutted calmly. “I feel like there must be a deeper understanding as to whatever happened.”

“Then tell that _ dog _ of yours, Choi San to never step foot in Club Chrysalis ever again. For all that he did to Rosé, he doesn’t even deserve to exist even within twenty kilometers of her.” Chungha continued while still being aggressively vague about the event that had occured at the club, much to Seonghwa’s annoyance.

Seonghwa gave a long sigh. “I will have a talk with him about this _ situation _ and he will be dealt with accordingly. You have my word.” He tried to keep an air of reserve in his voice.

“Good. You had better. Or I will be forced to take things into my own hands and I can’t guarantee he will still have his manhood left intact after I’m done with him.”

“I’m sure that will not be necessary.” Seonghwa said with an unintentionally purterbed tone.

Chungha did not even bother with any other formalities and merely hung up on Seonghwa. Seonghwa calmly put the telephone back on the receiver with another long, exasperated sigh.

“What was that all about?” Wooyoung asked quietly, curiosity getting the better of him. “Whoever she was, she sounded real mad.”

“That was Kim Chungha, the leader of the Coven of Blacklight. To say she was merely ‘mad’ would probably be an understatement. It looks like dear San has gotten himself in quite a bit of trouble... again.” Seonghwa replied, a hint of anger in his voice as he pulled his personal phone out of his pocket and began to dial San.

“Seonghwa!” San answered in a chipper tone. There wasn’t a ton of background noise, so Seonghwa assumed he wasn’t currently in a club. “I wasn’t expecting you to call!”

“San, care to explain why I just received a very angry phone call from Kim Chungha about some rather vague but apparently serious transgressions involving you and a member of their coven?” Seonghwa said sternly.

“Oh... fuck.” San cursed. “Seonghwa, I swear I can explain, it’s not what it seems!”

“It never is with you, is it?” Seonghwa replied bluntly, rubbing his forehead as if the very notion of hearing San’s knowingly convoluted side of things was already fatiguing.

San quickly went into a long tangent in an attempt to explain everything.

Back in the 80's San had been hopping between casual flings, one of said flings happened to be with Rosé, who at that time was a young fledgling from the Coven of Blacklight.

Knowing that she was still a fledgling and very impressionable when it came to the vampire lifestyle, he took great care in making sure she never felt uncomfortable or out of place when they would meet up at one of the few vampire clubs they had access to at the time. San ended up spending more time with her than his normal flings just because he felt a greater responsibility towards her, often doting upon her and checking up on her. However, he has also made it very evident that their late night meetings were merely casual hookups and nothing more. 

Unfortunately for the young Rosé, who was still wearing the rose-tinted glasses of being a newly turned vampire, she was drawn into the notion of _ forever _ and looking much too deeply into their relationship in hopes of finding that forever.

After a little over two years, San had decided to end things but Rosé was still stuck on forever and did not want to let whatever they had go. This made for a rather long and messy breakup of a relationship that San did not even realize he was truly a part of. In the end it caused much more animosity than either had bargained for when San eventually cut ties completely.

“And so when I showed up to Club Chrysalis forty years later, I ended up getting my ass kicked by Rosé for merely still existing.” San explained with a sigh. “But I swear I did not lay a single hand on her! I would never do anything to hurt her. I merely tried to diffuse the situation and I guess I accidentally made it worse.”

Seonghwa let out a long sigh. "And did you ever fully explain the entire situation to Rosé?"

"Yes!" San bleated. "Well… maybe in not so many words. But I told her decades ago that it was over."

"And you were crystal clear in your intentions?" Seonghwa pressed.

"Fairly certain."

"It would probably be best that you stay away from that specific club for now." Seonghwa instructed casually. "I’ll have a chat with Chungha to set things straight, as it appears your attempts in the past have fallen on deaf ears. I would avoid any Blacklight members for the time being as well, at least until things are settled."

San let out a small grumble but agreed with Seonghwa.

They had a string of murders to solve… he didn’t have time to deal with petty misunderstandings from decades past.

Still, even San could admit that he probably should have handled it a little better.

“Seonghwa chew you out?” Eden asked, smirking a little. They were still on the street, having decided to look for another club to canvas in the wake of their earlier failure.

“As much as he ever does. Which is to say, he just talks a lot of sense at you until you make yourself feel like shit for disappointing him.” San mumbled.

Eden snorted. “That he does.”

“Well, the night’s still pretty young. I feel emotionally drained, but we could try for another club, if you want.” San replied in a weary tone.

Eden frowned, shaking his head. “Let’s call it for the night. We can head back to the hotel and do a better inventory of the clubs. We kind of rushed into it without really looking over each of them; all we did was triangulate based on where the victims were killed.”

San let out a sigh of relief. “If I didn’t think you’d punch me in the face, I’d kiss you right now.”

“Yeah, maybe don’t push your luck.” Eden quipped.

San wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean he didn’t _ really _want to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from ScarlettSiren: Let it be known that ColourandCity wrote 90% of this chapter, so I’ve told her to answer the comments this time~


	4. Chapter 4

For as much as San felt in his element at the clubs, he was grateful for the short break, even if it only was half a night. He apparently had needed the time to emotionally recharge before starting things up again… and although he probably wouldn’t admit it, the small break did Eden some good as well. For the remainder of the night after the Blacklight incident, the two of them merely sat in blissful silence back at the suite, engrossed in work or some form of virtual entertainment.

The next night it was time to get back to work and Eden had selected a club called Night Fever that had recently become quite popular in the Gangnam clubbing scene.

Eden and San had quickly fallen into their usual routine of taking a general survey of the club when—for the first time _ —they _ were approached instead of vice-versa. Even more surprising was the fact that  _ Eden  _ was the one to actually be approached first. San watched as he attempted to flirt with the human who had expressed interest in him. It was still a little stiff and robotic, but there was definitely improvement from the first night. San felt a bit like a proud teacher while looking out for Eden’s well-being; their roles being switched temporarily. It wasn’t long before it became clearly evident to Eden that this human had absolutely no ties to the case, so he was quick to let him down and blow him off, all the while still maintaining his cover.

“Wow, I am truly impressed.” San said while beaming. He gave Eden a slap on the back once he rejoined him. “You actually managed to not get made that entire time.”

“Thanks.” Eden sighed. “The guy was absolutely useless and a complete waste of time.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve had my eyes set on a rather shady-looking duo.” San said with a wink. “Wish me luck.”

Eden was a little concerned that San was going to attempt to win over two humans at once, but at the same time, he knew he had to give him free rein. He took over San’s perch at the bar and watched as San sauntered over.

“Hello, boys.” San said in a sultry tone as he approached the duo. “Either of you looking to have some fun tonight?”

The two men shared a glance between the two of them.

“Depends,” The first man replied with a smirk. “You think you could handle the both of us?”

“Oooh. My kind of fun…” San breathed suggestively while looking between them. “But my question to you is, do you think you could both handle the likes of me? I ain’t no fledgling. I’ve got decades on half this club.”

“Well, why don’t we find out?” The second man quipped, motioning to the empty booth behind him.

San hummed in delight as they ushered him over to the leather seating. It wasn’t long before San had straddled the first man as he lay on his back across the seats, sitting squarely on his waist. San had a strong grip on the man’s wrists, pinning them above his head as he leaned down and vigorously kissed the man on the mouth. The second man was seated behind San, pressed tightly against him while kissing down the back of San’s neck and running his hands all over San’s chest under his shirt. 

As Eden watched from afar he still couldn’t get over how unashamed vampires and their human following tended to be, going so far as to nearly fornicate in the middle of a crowded room. Apparently the half-height partitions of the booths were considered more than enough privacy for a variety of acts of intimacy. It made his stomach churn as he watched and downed another drink.

The second man repeatedly ran his fingers over San’s nipples and San keened at his touch. Taking his focus away from the first man, San leaned back at an obscene angle and began kissing the second man, having released the first man’s wrists in order to hold onto the second man’s face to help him keep his balance.

“You can bite me if you want.” The second man breathed between kisses.

“Mmmwhat?” San replied.

“You can bite me.” He repeated. “You can drink my blood ...if you want.”

“Mmm—no, that won’t be necessary.”

The first man reached up and lightly ran his fingers along the side of San’s neck with one hand and wrapped the other around the small of San’s back, pulling him away from the second man and down into his space. As the first man began kissing San again, the second backed off slightly.

“How about… you let us have a taste of yours then?” The second asked in a slightly desperate tone.

“What? No.” San blurted out as he momentarily paused to process what he had just been asked before he went back to work on the first man. “I’m just looking for fun, not a familiar.”

The first man had lowered his hands and was running them over San’s thighs, slowly working his way up to undoing San’s pants. The second man was back to crowding San’s space from behind. As if he was working in tandem with the first, as soon as the second man had managed to undo the fly of San’s excruciatingly tight pants the first had thrust his hand into the open crotch.

“Fuck.” San hissed as he jolted slightly from the sensation of the second man’s touch.

“Why not just give us a little taste.” The first man now asked.

“I said no.” San asserted, trying to keep his composure as the second man began to work him over.

“Come on, don’t be such a blood prude.” The second chimed in, quickening his pace. “It’s not like you’d even notice.”

San was starting to get angry at their persistence and let out a strained groan in frustration.

“The fuck you don’t understand about no?” San growled. “It doesn’t mean nothing to every vampire. For some of us, it’s a big deal, so quit pushing.”

Before he could make a move, the second man had pinned San’s arms and put him in a headlock, pulling him backwards off of the first man, who was quick to sit up. It had become quite evident that these men were merely a couple of blood-chasers: humans who had become addicted to vampire blood. Normally San would have been done right then and there, but he knew he had to let this go as far as possible if either or both of these men happened to be the killer. Being a blood-chaser could easily be a motive for murder if a human was really hankering for a fix and a vampire denied them. So, as much as it annoyed him to do so, he had to continue to play along and humor them.

The first man leaned down and pulled a small switchblade out of his boot. Eden—who had been watching from the other side of the room—was starting to get worried about San’s safety and slowly started to inch his way closer to the three of them, just in case he was needed.

The first man flicked open the small knife and brandished it towards San.

“Come on, this will only take a second.” The first said, a hunger burning in his eyes.

“Fuck off!” San spat at him, pretending to try and struggle against the second man’s grasp.

The first man softly ran the tip of the blade up the side of San’s cheek as San intently watched his every move. The man slowly pushed up San’s upper lip to get a better look at his fangs. He almost seemed to have an expression of fondness on his face before San quickly brought him back to reality by aggressively snapping his jaw, as if he was about to bite him. 

“Now, that wasn’t nice.” The first man said in a mocking tone. “You some kind of tempermental mutt?”

He took an aggressive grab at San’s crotch and in the moment of distraction as San let out a startled gasp, the man lunged with the knife. San’s reflexes remained faster though as he was able to pull himself out of the second man’s grasp, lodging a foot squarely against the first man’s chest and shoving him backwards. In the scuffle, the first man had managed to graze San’s arm with his knife, ripping a large hole in the expensive fabric.

“Fuck! My shirt!” San cursed as he craned his neck to survey the hole. The small cut on his arm was already starting to heal despite only seconds having elapsed, but the fabric was not as lucky.

The second man lunged at him, then, but once again San was too fast for him. He was on his feet in a flash and had the man by the throat, pinned against the back of the booth in a second. Meanwhile, as the first man attempted to get up, San had planted a foot firmly on his throat, pushing him back down on the seats.

“Eden!” San called in a ferocious voice.

Eden was there, standing at the mouth of the booth in a heartbeat.

“Get club security. These two need to be thrown out and banned from the club.”

Eden didn’t ask any questions and ran to alert security, who were quick to subdue the two men and throw them out. Eden waited for San by the front door of the club after San had a talk with club management about what had just occurred. 

When Eden saw San, he noticed San was still a little disheveled and gave a small nod towards him. San looked down and angrily pulled up and buttoned his fly as he approached.

“I can’t believe how quickly you were able to take control of that situation.” Eden commented in surprise.

“Ugh, fucking blood chasers are the worst, but I don’t think they killed anyone.” San muttered angrily. “And I told you I could take care of myself.”

Having struck out at another club, they made their way back to their suite to regroup for the night.

While things had gone much better than many of their other canvasing attempts, San was still noticeably angry. They had barely gotten in the door when San ripped off his shirt. Momentarily searching for the hole before throwing the garment on the floor.

“I’m gonna go take another long shower.” San grumbled as he tossed Eden his headphones.

Eden caught them watching as San headed into the bathroom. It wasn’t in any way  _ his  _ fault that San was a grumpy, horny mess, but still…

He stared at the headphones for a long, silent moment before setting them aside.

San had started the shower, cranking the heat as high as it would go, as was his habit. It couldn’t really burn him, and he much preferred his water all but boiling. It had taken him several minutes to peel out of his clothes since his pants were especially tight, so he had just climbed in and started scrubbing his face to get his makeup off when he heard the door to the bathroom open.

“Eden?”

“Yeah, s’me.” He assured quietly. A few seconds later, the curtain pulled back just a little and Eden stepped in, naked.

San panicked, completely confused. “Uh… what are you—?”

Eden slid up behind him, plastering their bodies together and grabbing San’s hip to hold him there. “You’re in here because you’re horny.”

San blinked. That wasn’t  _ really  _ an answer, at least not when it came to  _ Eden.  _ “U-um…”

“Is this okay?” He asked, his voice low and rough as sandpaper next to San’s ear. His hand slid further, settling beneath his navel.

San instantly got with the program, nodding and letting out a slightly strangled, “Uh huh.”

“Okay.” Eden repeated softly, almost to himself. He parted his fingers, splaying them to either side of San’s cock and teasing his fingertips along the sensitive skin there. “S’kinda fucked up, you know? Getting all hot and bothered because of some shitty Dom-wannabe and a couple of blood-chasers.”

San trilled, heat boiling in his gut when he realized Eden was doing this for  _ his  _ benefit. He remembered San’s penchant for dirty talk  _ and  _ his humiliation kink.  _ Fuck  _ that drove him wild.

“You’ll really give it up for just about anyone, huh?” Eden goaded, letting just the sides of his knuckles catch at the base of San’s cock. “So desperate…”

“Mmm…uh-huh!” San eagerly agreed, panting softly from the sheer want bubbling up inside him.

Eden just laughed quietly, a cruel sort of wickedness in the sound. “You want it so bad…”

“Y-yes, want you, Eden,  _ please—” _ San whined, practically wailing when Eden finally wrapped a hand around him, stroking him slow and tight under the steaming-hot water.

Eden had to hold him with his other arm when San started writhing desperately underneath his touch. San was just a little bit shorter than him, just enough that he couldn’t drop his head back onto Eden’s shoulder. Instead he leaned back into Eden’s chest, letting him take most of his weight. Eden responded by dropping his lips to San’s shoulder, nipping across his clavicle and up along his neck.

San whimpered, his hips moving to match Eden’s pace. As he drew closer to the edge, his hand shot up to card into Eden’s hair, holding him just this side of too tightly, but he didn’t protest.

“I’m not sure I like watching you with other people.” Eden murmured, the speed of his movements picking up as San’s moans pitched higher and higher. “At least not with scum like that.”

San mewled softly, his free hand reaching back to scrabble at Eden’s hip. “S-sorry, m’sorry…”

“Of course you apologize now, but you’ll just be back to bending over for any and everyone tomorrow night. Don’t deny it.” Eden rebuffed, his hand halting momentarily.

San let out a strangled whine, wriggling in his hold. “Eden… Eden  _ please,  _ please—”

“Just remember which coven you belong to.” Eden husked, ignoring his begging. “You’re ours, San. Not any of theirs.”

San nodded desperately. “Y-yes, yes, m’yours not… not theirs—god  _ please  _ Eden let me—”

“Go on, come.” Eden grunted, picking up his blazing pace right where he left off.

San wailed, shaking and leaning all his weight back onto Eden as he came hard, making a mess of the tiles. Eden held him until his shivering stopped, then made sure he was able to stand on his own before cleaning off the wall with a grimace.

San’s eyes were still a little hazy as he turned around and looked Eden up and down, his hands settling on his hips as he made to kneel. “Here, lemme return the favor—”

“No.” Eden said, grabbing him so he couldn’t drop down. At San’s confused face, he shook his head. “S’fine, I just came in here to help you out. Now finish your shower.”

With that, he stepped out through the curtain, leaving San looking dazed and slightly crestfallen.

Even if he’d been nice enough to do San such a monumental favor, it was clear he still wasn’t attracted to him. San swallowed down the feeling of disappointment and grabbed for the body wash with a sigh.

In the main part of the suite, Eden flopped face-down onto the mattress on his side of the bed, still wrapped up in a damp towel.

“Get your shit together, Eden.” He grumbled to himself, the words muffled into the pillows as he tried desperately to ignore just how horny  _ he  _ was, then.

That was new. That was probably worth exploring. But, that was something that would have to wait for another time.

***

The next night, they were back at it. The club they would be canvassing in Itaewon that evening was called Persona, and was quite different from many of the other clubs they had visited recently. While many human-owned and run clubs basically just turned a blind eye on their vampire patrons, this club in particular had started to require all vampires be accompanied by a human. They’d had several unpleasant human-vampire confrontations in the past, and they felt such a rule could at least help their patrons hold some sort of accountability over themselves. This made things a little more difficult, since instead of the usual pool of between eight and a dozen humans, the humans would most likely outnumber the vampires two to one. It would take a lot more time and effort in trying to narrow down suspects and would be equally exhausting trying to keep an eye on everyone.

An additional roadblock for San and Eden was that neither of them were human anymore… so, they enlisted the help of Yunho and Jongho for the night. Yunho immediately volunteered to be paired with San, while Jongho was eager to be paired with Eden. He hadn’t worked with him since that fateful night at the gala, and he was determined to prove himself as a hunter alongside him.

Yunho had been very, very adamant that he would be a great asset to San, as he was a liaison and weaponsmith for a skilled hunter. A stakeout would be no problem for him at all. Unfortunately, once they arrived at Persona, Yunho’s nerves got the better of him and he had let himself become almost too convincing at being a normal club patron. San had urged him to slow down after his fourth drink in a single hour, but Yunho kept assuring him that he was fine. 

“ _ I am, _ like,  _ seven _ feet tall.” Yunho asserted with rather superfluous hand motions while not breaking eye contact with San. “I can hold my liquor. S’fine. I’m  _ fine.  _ Stop trying to baby me, we have  _ work _ to do!”

“Your face and ears—which are  _ beet  _ red—would strongly indicate otherwise.” San noted with a scoff.

Yunho gave an angry pout while covering his ears with his large hands so that his flushing was mildly less apparent.

By the second hour it had gone from being a simple survey mission with a strongly buzzed Yunho to San babysitting a severely drunk Yunho. Jongho and Eden had completely abandoned them by that point, and San could hardly blame them.

“Hey San.” Yunho blurted out while half-sprawled over one of the small tables in the back of the club, San just watching him with an endearing yet somewhat tired expression.

“Yes, Yunho?” San replied in a bored tone.

“You ever notice when Seonghwa does that, like, smile thing, but like… it’s not a smile, you know? Like it’s like a half-smile and he just sort of looks like a polite lizard?”

San let out a snort followed by a fit of giggles.

“He looks just like that little blue lizard from Frozen.”

“Oh my god Yunho.”

“Into the unknoooowwwwnnnnnn~” Yunho began belting off-key.

“Yunho, please!” San quickly tried to hush him while cackling with laughter himself.

“Into the unKNOOOO-OOOO-OOOWWWNN!”

“Yunho! Shh! Sh! Sh! You can’t just—ah fuck it.”

People were starting to take notice of the racket, staring at them. San was somehow both dying laughing while also being partially mortified. Their entire cover had been blown by that point, so he could only hope and pray that Jongho and Eden were having a much more successful run.

While Jongho was never really someone who frequented the club scene, he was amazingly observant and a quick learner, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was almost immediately surrounded by a gaggle of vampires fussing over him and eating out of the palm of his hand.

Eden was utterly amazed by how quickly Jongho was separated from him and ushered to join a large table of predominantly female vampires and their human counterparts and escorts.

“Well aren’t you just the sweetest thing.” One of the vampires said, doting upon Jongho and pouring him a glass of wine, which he eagerly accepted.

“Mmm you smell delectable as well.” Another commented suggestively.

“Ah, sorry, but I’m not really one for sharing my blood.” Jongho replied with a bashful laugh.

“Pity. You’re a familiar aren’t you? I can smell it on you. Who do you belong to?”

“I don’t belong to anyone, but I am a familiar of Song Mingi, of the Coven of Twilight.”

The first vampire raised their eyebrows in surprise. “Wow, one of Park Seonghwa’s boys.”

The vampires started talking (or more like gossiping) at length about Seonghwa and his progress with the Bureau, as well as the current standings of all the various covens in Seoul.

“Say, have you heard about the recent string of killings?” One vampire asked.

“Yes, it’s horrible isn’t it! I hear the Bureau has swept the entire thing under the rug and don’t even want to look into it since it’s human against vampire violence.” Another said.

“Did you hear about the first two though?” A third chimed in.

Several members at the table shook their heads as Jongho leaned in slightly to ensure he caught everything.

“I heard that the first was a newly turned fledgling.” The third vampire continued. “From some small coven here in Gangnam, what was the—I can’t for the life of me remember the name. But anyway, she was barely a month old!”

There were a few gasps from the others at the table as they chattered amongst themselves briefly about how horrible it was to strike down a vampire so early in their life.

“But here’s the real kicker: the killer’s second victim was her sire.”

“Do you… think it might have been some sort of revenge killing?” Jongho piped up.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if it was a scorned lover.” The first vampire said. “Or some crazed ex. I would say maybe it was someone jealous of the coven, but it was some obscure faction, not much money or prestige there. It’s not like they were the Coven of Power or anything...”

“Do you know much about the fledgling that was killed?” Jongho continued.

“For a human, you seem to take a lot of interest in the matter of vampires…” One of the vampires sitting across from him scoffed.

“I live with seven vampires, I would hate for anything to happen to any of them. Sorry if my concern for their well-being came across as suspicious to you.” Jongho asserted with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“I do.” A smaller vampire who had yet to speak piped up. “The fledgling… I didn’t know her but I knew  _ of _ her.”

“Well, go on!” One of the other vampires nudged her to continue speaking.

“She had apparently been diagnosed with a terminal illness.” She explained. “From what I’ve been told, she had a rather abusive boyfriend who refused to let her become a familiar as treatment. She went behind his back and not only accepted vampire blood, but once she was cured, she left him and let herself be turned.”

“So what you’re saying is…” The first vampire said.

“It could easily be the boyfriend.” Jongho commented. “That’s enough motive right there.”

The vampires all began chatting and gossiping amongst themselves in a flurry again, and Jongho used the opportunity to slip away and meet back up with Eden.

“So, did you learn anything of use?” Eden asked.

“Yeah, I think I might have just cracked this thing wide open.” Jongho replied with a small smile. “Grab the others and let’s get out of here. We have a lot of work to do.”

Jongho ended up piggy-backing the plastered Yunho back to the hotelling suite so he could go over everything he had learned and devise a game plan.

“I’m 90% certain it was the first victim’s boyfriend.” Jongho explained as he went over all the points the vampires had been gossipping about. “It’s getting late so I’ll head back with Yunho and we’ll start digging up every file on the guy. Meanwhile, they said that the first victim liked going with their sire to specific clubs: En Noir, Club Lucky, and Miro; all of them located in Gangnam.”

“You did real good, Jjong.” Eden said as Jongho gave a bashful smile and bowed his head.

“We’ll hit up En Noir tomorrow night, and if that doesn’t turn up anything, we’ll try Club Lucky or Miro the nights after.” Eden continued. “I really feel like we’re closing in on this bastard.”

Jongho and San nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Yunho lay sprawled on the bed, passed out the entire time. He was completely oblivious to the tension and excitement around him. It wasn’t until Jongho woke him up to take him home that he even noticed that he didn’t really recognize where he was.

San pressed a flurry of kisses to his flushed face as he awoke. “Bye Yunnie, have a safe trip home with Jongho! You should sing that song for him, I’m sure he’ll love it.”

Jongho knew he wasn’t strictly allowed to murder San, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t tempted.

***

The club investigations had started to become a weird routine for San and Eden, but the thrill that they were closing in on the killer only fueled their drive. As Eden had promised the night before, they arrived at En Noir; a rather bougie three-floor club in Gangnam. It was owned by humans, but run by vampires—and it was still fairly busy, given the current circumstances.

They hadn't been there long when San sensed a familiar presence.

“Sannie?” A small voice called from behind.

San quickly whipped around to come face-to-face with a small, mousy-looking boy who looked a couple years younger than San himself, though it was physically impossible for him to actually  _ be  _ such, since San had been turned so young.

“Min Min!” San screamed in delight as he grabbed onto the boy and pulled him into a crushing hug.

“Not so tight!” The boy said with a laugh. “You should be more careful. Some people might still need to breathe.”

San quickly let go and just looked at the boy fondly. 

“Another friend of yours?” Eden asked dully.

San turned and gave Eden a look, as if he had completely forgotten he was standing there.

“This is Minhyuk.” San replied, gesturing to the boy. “We used to go clubbing together all the time back in the day, and he was my favorite familiar until he left me for the Coven of Power.” 

San gave the boy’s hair a bit of a ruffle while playfully pouting. Minhyuk’s eyes travelled to Eden before looking back to San in search of an answer.

“Oh and this is my, uh… coworker? Covenmate? Bane of my existence—anyways, this is Eden.” San said with an exaggerated eye roll.

“Covenmate? Seonghwa finally adding to the coven after all these years?” Minhyuk asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it’s been a crazy couple of months. Our numbers have nearly doubled in the past year!” San stated excitedly.

Suddenly San’s expression changed as he slowly picked up on several changes Minhyuk exhibited and a look of curiosity washed over him.

“Wait... you’re a vampire now.” He balked..

“Yup!” Minhyuk replied with a toothy smile, showing off his fangs.

“Oh my god!” San exclaimed while roughly grabbing his chin in excitement to get a better look at the small fangs. “When did this happen?!”

“About ten years ago?” He replied sheepishly.

“TEN YEARS?!”

“Yeah, I found someone special and uh, I decided I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with them.” Minhyuk said while looking down at his feet and cracking a fond smile.

“Ahh I’m so happy for you!” San squealed while putting Minhyuk in for another suffocating hug while ruffling his hair. “Wait! Are they here?!” San cried as he pulled away and began to scan the faces in the club.

Minhyuk shook his head. “No, they’re out of the city on some business. They told me to come out and have some fun while they were gone so I wouldn’t just be moping around back home.” He continued with a bit of a laugh.

“Ah, well, next time they’re back in town, you’ll have to introduce me to this sire of yours.” San said playfully as he started to pout again. “Not just anyone can take my Min Min away from me.”

Minhyuk gave another shy smile as San pulled him in close again.

“Mhm.” Minhyuk mumbled, his face buried in San’s chest.

“I’ll let you two catch up for a bit, but remember, we are here for a specific purpose.” Eden instructed as he made direct eye contact with San and left towards the bar.

“He seems… cheery.” Minhyuk noted sarcastically as San loosened his grip.

“Yeah, he’s a bit of a pain, but this is a billion times better than when he first joined the coven. Sometimes I wonder what Seonghwa sees in him. He can be so prickly sometimes.”

“He doesn’t really seem the clubbing type, so why’s he out here with you?”

San gave a long sigh. “He works for the Bureau, and I’m helping him with a case. You hear about the recent string of murders?”

“Yeah…” Minhyuk replied in a sad tone. “One of the early victims was from our coven. I didn’t know him but still, that hits way too close to home. I actually haven’t been going out as much as I used to because I was sort of scared of something happening… but I was told I had to stop being a hermit, to go have some fun once in a while.” He gave a bit of a nervous laugh. “So here I am!”

“Well don’t worry about it one bit.” San said confidently. “Me and Eden are on the case and we have a really strong lead. In fact, I’m fairly certain we’re gonna catch the guy tonight.”

San quickly looked over at Eden, who was intently watching one patron in particular.

“You see that human over there?” San said pointing to the man Eden was watching. “He matches our profile perfectly. I am positive that’s our guy. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, I’ll make sure nobody lays a finger on you.”

Minhyuk seemed infinitely less nervous at San’s reassurance.

“Now, go and have some fun. Sannie’s gotta get to work.” San said with a flirty wink as he gave Minhyuk one last hair-ruffle before heading off.

San gave a nod to Eden as he walked over to the mark and quickly fell into character.

***

While San and Eden went about their business in the city, Jongho, Yunho and Mingi were fast at work back at the mansion trying to dig up any and all information they could find on the first victim and her alleged boyfriend.

They dug through as many forums, social media profiles and group pages as they could find until Jongho came across a name that could easily have been the name of the boyfriend.

After about an hour and a half, Mingi finally stumbled upon exactly what they were looking for. After accessing the Seoul police file server, Mingi had come up with not only a matching name but a low-res photo as well. It turned out that the abusive boyfriend had been arrested in the past for assault after a  _ different  _ girlfriend had pressed charges. All of his information had been stored in the system from that event, one that had occurred almost a decade prior. That single assault was also not his only offense.

“Holy shit…” Mingi cursed under his breath. “If this is our guy… he’s a real piece of work.”

Both Yunho and Jongho crowded around Mingi’s computer screen.

“That has to be him. He fits the profile of what the vampires in the club were talking about.” Jongho noted.

“How did they not connect this guy to the case before?” Mingi asked in disbelief as he read through his long list of past offences.

“One, probably because the Bureau doesn’t seem to actually care about this case. Two, it appears he had been investigated, but had some sort of bullshit alibi from a friend the night of the first murder. And three, he has had zero connection to the victims of the five other murders that took place after the first two.” Jongho explained. “We should get this information to Eden and San ASAP.”

***

Back at En Noir, San was deep in character, having seduced the mark he was sure was their guy. Things were starting to get hot and heavy as the man shoved San up against the wall, aggressively kissing up San’s neck. San writhed under the man’s touch as he undid the top couple of his shirt buttons. It wasn’t long before the man had his tongue down San’s throat as San fumbled behind him in an attempt to find the handle to one of the VIP room doors. After a couple of seconds he managed to find it, opening the door and stumbling backwards, dragging the man into the room behind him. He was sure Eden would be soon to follow, remaining close in the case that something went wrong.

San let out a breathy laugh as he pulled the man back in again as the door shut behind them.

It was quite dark in the room, and every single one of San’s senses were simultaneously on edge and running wild as the human was laying it on thick. He continued to back himself into the center of the room when his foot stepped on something large and soft on the floor, making a horrible squelching sound and causing him to lose his footing in the dark. San barely had enough time to react so as not to drag the human down with him, putting him in a vulnerable position. Instead he opted to let go and land flat on his ass.

“Uh, are you okay?” The human asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” San mumbled, mildly embarrassed but still on edge as to what the human’s next move was going to be.

“Here, let me try and find the light.” San could hear him clumsily shuffle back towards the door while feeling up and down the wall for the lightswitch.

San put his hand down to push himself back up and felt something warm and wet on the floor.

“Ew gross… do they  _ ever _ clean these rooms?” San muttered under his breath.

He was halfway to his feet when the lights in the room flicked on immediately, causing San to let out an exasperated hiss and drop back down onto the floor, the brightness of the lights nearly blinding him. 

The human let out a wail.

San had momentarily shielded his eyes with his hands. It took a moment for his vampire eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness… but when they did, he quickly noticed the stains covering his hands.

Blood.

His eyes went wide in mild shock and confusion as he lowered his hands, looking past them at the gruesome scene slowly unfolding in front of him.

Blood was absolutely everywhere; on his hands, his pants, his shoes… but it wasn’t human blood. No, it didn’t smell right. 

It was vampire blood.

San slowly surveyed the room until they fell upon the lifeless body of a vampire splayed on the floor across from him. Their still-warm blood had pooled over the majority of the small room.

San clamped both of his hands over his mouth as his eyes slowly travelled up the length of the torso. Their head had been cleaved clean from their body; their now lifeless eyes staring out into the abyss.

A familiar face.

Minhyuk.

San’s eyes went wide with terror, his entire body shaking ever so slightly.

The human’s earlier cry had alerted Eden who had come running, barging into the room just as the human vomited the entire contents of their stomach against the wall. 

San was just sitting there, half covered in blood of his friend, appearing almost catatonic.

Eden quickly surveyed the scene as well as San.

“San, what the hell happened?!” Eden stated in a whisper.

“There… there’s been a murder… He… killed Minhyuk.” San muttered, slowly lowering his hands. “Call the Police. Call the Bureau. Call whoever…”

Eden roughly grabbed onto the human and shoved him up against the wall, eyes aflame and fangs bared as if he was ready to rip the man’s throat out at that very moment.

“No, it wasn’t him.” San muttered, still just staring straight ahead. “Let him down.”

“What?!” Eden snarled, turning to face San.

“We… had the wrong guy. This guy was with me the entire time, ever since I left Minhyuk back at the bar. It wasn’t him.”

Eden slowly let go of the human and muttered that he needed to stick around for questioning once the Bureau arrived. He quickly dug into his pocket and called the emergency number and requested services get there immediately as there had been another murder.

After finishing the call, he shoved his phone back into his jacket, glancing around again. He balled his fists, shaking with rage and frustration as he turned and wailed on the wall with a rough punch.

“Fuck.” He hissed, pushing his hair back out of his face and looking at the victim again. San’s friend. He’d been so happy to see him, and now he was—

He cursed again, kicking the baseboard hard enough to crack it. Of all the nights to fuck up, this was  _ not  _ the one.

“We had the wrong guy.” San repeated, his voice low and haunted. “I told him it would be okay. I told him he would be safe. He’s… he’s dead because of  _ me.” _

San looked up at Eden for the first time and his expression was just completely lost, distant, devoid of any one specific emotion. Hollow.

Eden cautiously made his way across the room, being careful not to step in any of the blood. Extending a hand, he leaned down to help San. 

“Come on Sannie, let’s get you out of here.” Eden said quietly.

San just regarded his hand for a moment before taking a hold as Eden pulled him to his feet and quickly led him out of the room. Several of the club patrons gasped as they saw the state of San, half-covered in blood. Club employees were quick to shut down the entire club and usher all those not involved outside.

“We had the wrong guy.” San continued to mutter as Eden sat him down on a bar chair.

“I know, I know.” Eden replied in a hushed tone. “It’s not your fault.”

“It  _ is _ my fault.” San asserted, looking up at Eden, his eyes glossy and eerily distant. “It’s  _ all _ my fault.”

Eden’s phone pinged with the notification of a new message form Jongho. He ignored it for the time-being, as they had other pressing matters at hand.

The remainder of the night became a painfully long blur as Eden and San were forced to give statements. The Bureau shut down the entire club as a crime scene, conducting an investigation of their own. San especially was raked over the coals for being the one to stumble upon Minhyuk’s body. Much to Eden’s surprise, he stayed calm and composed the entire time. Eden began to become concerned, though, as he knew San to be an overly emotional person. He hadn’t seen San shed a single tear all night, and somehow, that worried him more than it would if he’d been openly sobbing.

As the Bureau was finishing up their investigation, San grabbed onto the coat of one of the men in charge.

“Wait…” He said quietly as the man turned to face him. “Please. Tell Minhyuk’s sire I’m sorry… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect him.” San choked out.

“San, please stop blaming yourself.” Eden murmured as he pulled San in tightly against his chest. “It’s over, let’s go home.”

***

Back at the suite, Eden became more and more concerned about San’s disposition. He still hadn’t shown any emotion other than guilt.

“Do you need me to  _ do _ anything?” Eden asked calmly.

San just shook his head as he tossed his blood-stained clothes in the trash.

It wasn’t long before Eden heard the shower start up. He walked up to the bathroom door and was about to knock when he paused. He could hear quiet sniffling from the other side and tried to decide if it was best to leave San alone. It wasn’t long, however, before the quiet sniffles evolved into distraught wails that could be heard across the suite.

While scrolling through his phone, Eden finally revisited the email from Jongho. Upon opening it and scanning through all the information and photos, he realized Jongho had literally cracked the case wide open and this was the profile of the killer.

“Fuck.” He cursed.

He looked at the timestamp from the email and his expression darkened knowing that if they’d had that information even 30 minutes earlier, they could have stopped another murder from occuring.

Eden reluctantly made the decision to call Seonghwa, placing the phone on the bed and turning on speakerphone as he cleaned himself up.

_ “Eden, what a pleasant surprise!” _ Seonghwa’s voice was light and cheerful.  _ “How is the investigation going? I overheard Jongho and Mingi discussing a major breakthrough earlier _ — _ ” _

“Seonghwa…”

Before Eden even said anything else, Seonghwa had already picked up on the gravity of the situation merely from the tone of his voice.

_ “Is everything all right? Are either of you hurt? Should I send someone to get you? What do you need me to do?”  _ Seonghwa began to launch into a dozen frenzied questions.

“No, it’s fine. We’re both okay. It’s just San—there was a murder at the club tonight. We missed the killer by about fifteen minutes.”

_ “Oh Eden…” _ Seonghwa lamented.

“The victim was a friend of San’s, a former familiar.” Eden continued. “I’m not sure where we should go from here. It seems to have really rattled him.”

_ “Maybe it’s best you pause the investigation for now, come home and—” _

“We aren’t going to stop because of me.” San interrupted angrily, having emerged from the bathroom in merely a towel, still sopping wet.

_ “San dear, are you sure?” _ Seonghwa asked.

“I’m fine. I’ve been through worse. I’ve seen worse. I will be all right. I don’t need to be babied, Seonghwa.”

_ “If you are sure, then I will not pressure you to do anything you do not wish to do.” _

“The only thing I  _ wish  _ to do is rip that motherfucker’s head from his pathetic body.” San snarled. “I know every single face from the club tonight. The next time we’re out, if I see him—”

“I’ll do you one better.” Eden interrupted. “Jongho sent us a photo. It’s grainy, but—”

“Let me see it.” San cut him off, striding over.

“I’ll talk to you later, Seonghwa.” Eden said, clicking the ‘End Call’ button just as he murmured a soft,  _ “Take care, both of you.” _

He pulled up the email, showing San the attachment.

“That son of a—” San gritted his teeth as he stared at the photo. The face looked familiar, but club lighting was notoriously terrible, so he wouldn’t be certain until he saw him again. “I remember him. When I see him again, it’s fucking over for him. Mark my words. I’ll fucking  _ end  _ him.”

“We still have to keep up our act.” Eden reminded him. “It’s not legal for either of us to kill him unless he directly tries to kill us or someone else in our presence, first. That’s how the law works for humans.”

San sneered, cursing under his breath. “Such fucking bullshit… where’s the sanction system for monsters like him, huh? He doesn’t  _ deserve  _ a trial, or a chance to defend himself, or  _ any fucking mercy—” _

“Hey, Sannie, it’s okay.” Eden said softly, taking his hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him. He’s gonna pay for what he did, I promise.”

Eden wasn’t one to make empty promises, and this one was certainly one he had every intention of keeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of chapter note from C&C: Minhyuk was just a generic common male named that was used. If you pictured a specific idol as Minhyuk you just killed them. Congrats, you monster.


	5. Chapter 5

San barely slept during the day and his constant tossing and turning and kept Eden awake for most of the day as well. It was no surprise that San was up and already getting ready before the sun had even set, letting Eden get in an hour of restless sleep before he got up.

Eden groggily rolled over to see San sitting at the small vanity in the room furiously applying makeup.

“What’re you doin?” Eden groaned while lazily running a hand through his hair.

“Getting ready.” San replied curtly as he angrily dabbed primer above his eyelids.

“Huh? Ready fer what?” Eden asked in a bit of a mental garble, pulling himself into a sitting position on the bed.

“To go _ out.” _ San replied again, glaring at Eden through his reflection in the mirror.

“No San, not tonight.”

“What do you mean ‘not tonight’?” San asked dangerously.

Eden gave him a withering look. “It’s barely 8pm, you should be getting rest and not be in whatever frantic state you’re in.”

“What do you mean by ‘_ not tonight _’ Eden?” San repeated in an angry tone as he got to his feet and took a step towards the bed.

Eden gave a long sigh as he gathered his thoughts.

“There’s always a lull between his kills. He lets things die down before he strikes again. That means we have some time.”

“Time to _ what? _ Sit on our asses and twiddle our thumbs? I just want this guy _ stopped.” _San growled.

“Time to… regroup. You had something awful happen to you, San, it’s okay to take a breather—”

“Vampires don’t breathe, you idiot.” San snapped in a snotty tone.

“You _ know _what I mean.” Eden pressed. “San, you’re in no condition—”

“It doesn’t _ matter _what condition I’m in! People are dying, Eden, and we have to stop this psychopath before he kills again…”

“Okay, full respect for you, for your life experience and your mental fortitude but you will compromise the mission if we just head back out there right away and go on an anger-fueled rampage. And if you’re not compromising the _ mission _ then you’re compromising _ yourself.” _ Eden insisted. “It’s too soon. You _ need _ to take a break, before _ you _break.”

San just stared at him for a moment, a maelstrom of emotions warring on his face. His fists were balled up so tightly at his sides he looked as though he was shivering. Eden didn’t know if he was going to punch him or yell at him or what—but then it happened. San just _ broke. _

He fell to his knees and sobbed, worse than he had in the shower. He wasn’t holding anything back.

“Fuck—” Eden hissed, now fully awake as he promptly began to panic. 

Eden cautiously pulled himself out of the bed and took a step towards San. He hesitated as he reached out with one hand, gently patting San on the back.

“There, there…” Eden said awkwardly.

San swatted Eden’s hand away and crumpled onto his side, curling up into a ball as he buried his face in his knees and began sobbing even harder.

“Fuck.” Eden cursed again.

He headed to the small bathroom and grabbed the box of tissues that had been sitting there. Walking back over to San he carefully placed the box on the floor about a foot away from San and backed away. Within a minute San had grabbed the tissue box and pulled it out of sight, sucking it deep into the endless void of his emotions.

Eden really had no idea what to do in this situation that he had placed himself directly in the middle of.

“San? ...Sannie?” Eden asked cautiously as he slowly paced around him, trying to survey his condition. “Is there anything I can do?”

San didn’t answer and Eden was becoming more and more exasperated by the second. Without a second thought he had pulled out his phone and dialed Seonghwa.

_ “Eden, is everything all right?” _ Seonghwa answered with a tired voice.

“You’re not sleeping again, aren’t you?” Eden accused in a concerned tone. “I can tell by your voice. Seonghwa—”

_ “I am fine. You have my word that I will attempt to sleep early tonight. Hongjoong will be home in a couple nights’ time and everything will be back to normal. I promise. One day’s worth of missed sleep will not be the death of me.” _ Seonghwa continued. _ “But this is not about me. Is everything well with you and San?” _

Eden let out a frustrated sigh, knowing that Seonghwa would not listen to him even if he tried to assert how much he needed rest. His eyes fell back on the sobbing mess that was San in front of him.

“I’m doing fine, all things considered, but San... he’s utterly inconsolable. I think I broke him...”

_ “Oh my.” _ Seonghwa murmured.

“Seonghwa, I don’t know what he needs, I—”

“Yunho!” San cried, the most coherent sound he’d managed to make in the last five minutes. “I want Yunho!”

“Um?”

_ “Oh dear. Well, San has grown rather attached to him… and it is impossible to deny that he has a soothing aura about him.” _ Seonghwa responded. _ “I’ll drop him off at the station and send him over on the high-speed rail. He should arrive within the hour.” _

“Gimme my emotional support human.” San mumbled in between sniffles.

“Thanks, you’re a literal lifesaver.” Eden said before hanging up.

Almost exactly one hour later there was a light knock on the door. San perked up slightly, having moved to a huddled sitting position on the floor from his previous fetal position. Eden answered the door to find a rather frazzled and out-of-breath-looking Yunho standing there.

“Did… you run here?” Eden asked as he ushered Yunho into the small suite.

“Yeah.” Yunho gulped in a large breath. “Figured it would be faster than waiting for the bus from the train station at this time of night.”

Eden opened his mouth to say something but then decided against it.

“Yunnie.” San all but whimpered, his voice warbling in desperation as he made grabby hands in Yunho’s general direction.

“Oh, Sannie, baby I’m so sorry.” Yunho soothed, immediately crossing the room and pulling him into a tight embrace.

Yunho was quick to scoop San up in his arms and carry him over to the bed, carefully placing him down on the duvet. San unintentionally overpowered Yunho, grabbing onto his sweater and pulling him down on top of him before wrapping all of his limbs tightly around Yunho’s torso. Yunho let out a stifled giggle as San barnacled onto him.

“San, remember, he’s still human. And still needs things like blood flow. And air.” Eden sighed.

“It’s okay Eden, he’s very gentle.” Yunho replied while craning his head away from San briefly.

After a couple of minutes, San slowly loosened his grip on Yunho and Yunho was able to roll over onto his back on the bed beside San. Yunho hadn’t even had the chance to remove his shoes or coat so he quickly kicked them off and threw his coat over onto the chair in front of the vanity.

“I’ll just… give you two some privacy—”

“Huh? Why? We’re not—” Yunho made a sort of horrified face. “We’re not gonna have _ sex! _He’s in no condition, look at him!”

Eden threw his hands up. “How am I supposed to know how he copes? From what I’ve seen, it’s _ usually _with sex!”

Yunho scrunched up his nose. “San almost always seeks comfort in the form of cuddling, _ not _ sex. But I guess you two aren’t really all that close, so you only see him when we’re all…” Yunho made a bunch of vague hand motions. _ “You know. _”

Eden frowned. He supposed the week or so he’d spent here in Seoul with San was the most time he’d ever spent with him by leagues. He was certainly starting to realize that most of his beliefs about him were large misconceptions.

“Well, if it gets to that point just… give me a heads up and I’ll leave.” Eden muttered, opting to throw himself into the uncomfortable, boxy chair in the corner for the time being.

Honestly, it would have been more bearable if they just decided to fuck, because then Eden could have up and left… and that would have been completely reasonable. Instead, he was stuck in a tiny hotel suite watching two men cuddle and trying not to react, because that would have been rude, probably.

Eden hadn’t ever been the best at manners, and he wasn’t a people person. Being trapped in a small room with two of the most affectionate men he knew was probably at least one circle of his own personal version of hell.

Thankfully, they were quiet at first. Yunho mostly just petted over San’s back and whispered soothing words like sweet nothings. Practically meaningless. Did it help to be told things would be all right? Even if it was a lie?

Eventually, San lifted his face from where he’d pressed it into Yunho’s neck, sniffling softly.

“Thank you, Yunnie.” He murmured, his eyes still sparkling.

“Of course. I’m sorry I wasn’t closer, that I couldn’t get here sooner.” Yunho said, nuzzling his nose against San’s cheek. “Seonghwa caught us all up on the case. On… _ everything.” _

San frowned. So then they knew about Minhyuk. How San had let him—

“Do you… wanna talk about it?” Yunho asked gently, inclining his head a little.

San’s eyes glittered, but he didn’t allow his tears to fall. He shook his head, grinding his teeth with the effort not to cry again.

“Hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to. We can just… this. This is good, let’s just do this, okay?” Yunho tried, holding him a little closer.

San shook a bit in his hold, but eventually calmed again, settling comfortably against Yunho’s side.

“Easy, Sannie, that’s it.” Yunho cooed, tenderly brushing San’s hair back from his face and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead.

Eden stood abruptly, grabbing his jacket. “M’going out.”

“Out?” Yunho questioned, sitting up quickly. “You said the investigation’s on pause. It’s nearly three in the morning!”

San gently reached over and smoothed down the back of Yunho’s hair, which was sticking up in several directions.

“Just for a walk, I’ll be back. Stay with him.” Eden grunted, not even waiting for a response before striding out the door.

***

Eden was being unreasonable. He _ knew _he was being unreasonable.

That was what pissed him off more than anything: feeling something irrational and knowing it didn’t make any sense. At the end of the day, it didn’t make that feeling go away. And at that moment, that feeling was like bile roiling in his gut at the sight of the two of them together.

He didn’t know why seeing Yunho dote upon San made him feel so angry and irritable. It wasn’t as though _ he _ liked being doted upon, or doting upon others himself, so why was he suddenly so upset? He knew it was stupid and irrational but he couldn’t figure out _ why _ he was feeling that way.

Eden walked for what must have been almost an hour before he came across a small public park. He walked as far as he could into the park before throwing himself down on one of the many park benches that lined the walking path. Surprisingly there were people out at this hour of the night, getting in a late night or more likely an early morning workout on the public equipment. Eden thought it quite odd yet somewhat comical watching a couple eldery citizens use the walking machines and ellipticals without a care in the world.

The thought suddenly came into his mind that these people must have been around the same age as San, give or take five or ten years. But San would never look like them, forever having the visage of a teenager. Eden laughed to himself a little imagining a frail old bearded San. But that would never be San’s reality, and it would never be his either.

San.

Why was his mind constantly going back to San?

Eden aggressively gave his hair a ruffle in frustration and slumped forward on the bench. He dug his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through the contacts, hesitating slightly while hovering his thumb over Seonghwa’s name.

He was a licensed therapist, after all.

But how could he ever think about talking to the one man he truly admired, truly _ loved, _ about another person—let alone what he was suddenly _ feeling _for that person—if he could even put those confusing emotions into words.

And then there was the matter of their own… situation.

Seonghwa had Hongjoong. Eden was already a third wheel in that equation. He knew, intrinsically, that Seonghwa did not see it that way. He could imagine him smiling genially in that way of his, casually and cleverly reminding him that while he may be a ‘third wheel’, that his relationship with Hongjoong was by no means a bicycle.

In Eden’s mind, though… one wrong step could mean easily unraveling everything he had been working toward for decades. The rational part of his brain threw that possibility away, knowing that Seonghwa of all people would be accepting and caring no matter the circumstances, but Eden found it impossible not to dwell on the what-ifs.

“Don’t be a fucking idiot.” Eden muttered to himself as he locked his phone again, turning it completely off and shoving it back into his pocket.

Eden just sat there for a while, sliding down on the bench so that he could rest his head against the low back.

As the senior citizens finished up their workout, one of the older ladies shuffled over to Eden.

“Young man, it is much too cold to be out in just that!” She scolded while fishing something out of her bag.

Eden righted himself on the bench as she quickly handed him a couple of hot packs. Even though he knew he didn’t need them, he accepted them anyways as she kept nudging them closer, urging him to take them.

“Oh your hands are so cold! Here use these to warm up!” The lady instructed as she furiously rubbed her hands against Eden’s to activate the hot packs.

“Ah… thank you.” Eden said quietly as he smiled up at the old lady.

The old lady’s smile quickly melted into a rather unpleasant frown when she noticed Eden’s small fangs when he smiled. 

“Oh. You’re one of _ them _.” She stated in a low voice as she took a few steps back and away from him.

“Daesuk!” She called out to another elderly man who Eden presumed was her husband. “Daesuk, it’s time we be leaving!”

She quickly shuffled off to join the man as they hurriedly made their way out of the park, giving worried glances back over their shoulders as they did so.

Eden slumped back down on the bench, clenching the hot pack angrily in his fists, his sharp nails ripping into the flimsy plastic packaging.

***

The sun was on the verge of rising when Eden returned to the suite.

“Where the _ fuck _ were you?!” San yelled the moment Eden stepped into the room.

“What do you mean? Did something happen?” Eden asked, quickly fishing his phone out of his pocket only to turn it on and see eight missed calls. All of them were from San and Yunho, save the one from Seonghwa.

“Fuck.” Eden cursed.

“We were worried! We thought something happened to you! It’s almost sunrise!” Yunho blurted out. “San was terrified, he—” 

“So you got Seonghwa involved?!” Eden snarled.

“Well he’s the only one you ever listen to, and we couldn’t reach you!” San bit back.

“Well I’m _ fine _. I was dealing with some shit but I’m back. Don’t worry. I’m sure a mild sunburn here or there won’t kill me.” Eden muttered coldly.

The look on San’s face suggested that Eden had said the most offensive thing he could have thought of to him at that exact moment.

“One day you’re finally going to get burned… and you are going to eat those words.” San said coldly.

“I’ll look forward to it. Until then, get off my case.” Eden mumbled as he quickly dialed Seonghwa.

“Hey, it’s me—”

_ “Eden, my darling, please tell me all is well?” _ Seonghwa’s voice sounded mildly concerned on the phone. _ “San and Yunho were quite worried…” _

“Yeah, m’fine. Just went out and turned off my phone. No need to send a search party.” Eden grumbled in embarrassment.

_ “Well, just remember to take care of yourself, for all our sakes.” _ Seonghwa instructed.

“I will.” Eden replied with a heavy sigh as he hung up the phone.

An awkward silence hung in the air before Yunho broke it.

“Well, uh… I should probably be heading back. The trains will be starting up soon and Jongho said he’d come pick me up from the station.” He said as he slowly extracted himself from San’s grasp, sliding off the edge of the bed.

“I don’t want you to go.” San pouted.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine for a night.” Yunho said with a small laugh while planting a kiss on San’s forehead.

“I don’t wanna be stuck with the cactus incarnate for the night.” San continued pouting while glaring over at Eden.

“Cactus or not, he’s the best hunter in the business. I know you two will catch this guy… you just need to listen to each other.” Yunho told them. “If Eden says it’s too soon to go back out, it’s too soon. Trust him to know when the time is right, and I bet he’ll trust that you’re ready.”

San frowned, looking down at his own lap. “I guess.”

Eden just sighed and passed Yunho his coat, speaking softly enough that had San been human, he would not have heard.

“Thank you, for helping him.”

Yunho beamed, a million-watt smile that could light up even the most solemn of rooms. “Anytime. Take care of each other, and come back home to us safe and victorious.”

“We will.” Eden assured, and he hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

***

Despite having cuddled Yunho for practically the entire night, San had not slept in that time at all.

He was drained from crying—both emotionally and physically—and after some coaxing, Eden got him to drink some blood from the restocked mini-fridge and lie back down.

It was clear that sleep wasn’t going to come easily for him. He was twitchy, and Eden could tell even from the complete opposite side of the bed. He had nabbed one of the extra pillows and was attempting to strangle it, as far as Eden could see… but it was more likely that he was just cuddling it with a little too much fervor.

“S’not the same…” San whined pathetically, so quiet that Eden almost didn’t hear.

It was well past noon before he finally conked out.

Eden wasn’t so lucky. He had always had trouble falling asleep, even as a human, and that hadn’t stopped once he became a vampire. It was especially difficult when he was in an uncomfortable situation… and this _ definitely _qualified.

Eden wasn’t sure if he even slept at all. He thought he might’ve gone in and out a few times, hazily waking just to ensure San was there and safe. Eden didn’t react to trauma in the same way that San did, and of course, he did not have the same friendly relationship with the victim—Minhyuk, Eden reminded himself—something so horrific happening close to home was sending his hypervigilance into overdrive.

The sun was drooping low against the horizon, visible in just the barest sliver of space between the curtains, when Eden faded back in again. San looked at peace for the first time in hours, sleep finally having claimed him.

Eden just… watched him, for a little while. Vampires were often motionless when they slept, since they did not need to breathe. San was still as the grave for a long while, tangled up awkwardly in the blankets with the pillow he’d been smothering ending up somewhere by his feet. He’d been tossing and turning so much that it was strange not to see him move.

After what could have been a few minutes or nearly an hour, San’s brow knit together, his lips curling down. He let out a soft breath of a whimper, as though something in his dreams had upset him. His hand reached out at nothing, grabbing only air in the large space left between them.

Eden slid closer almost automatically, closing that chasm of distance between them on the huge bed. He moved until San’s palm was against his chest, and once it was, his fingers latched to his shirt. San let out a somewhat needy sound, curling in toward what little warmth another vampire could provide.

Eden pulled San in close against his chest, wrapping his arms around him in a protective embrace. He didn’t know _ why _he did it, he just felt that he should.

No. He… wanted to.

He wanted to keep San safe. 

Thankfully, San stilled, and Eden dropped off into sleep again. He was strangely unbothered by the close presence, though he normally would have been.

The sun had just fallen below the horizon when San stirred, waking Eden instantly. Taking stock of him, though, it was clear that San wasn’t actually awake yet. His eyes were still closed, his movements sluggish in his haze of grogginess.

“Mm… Yunnie…” San mumbled, shifting closer. He seemed like he was trying to crawl under Eden’s skin, as though any amount of space between them was too much.

He nuzzled his nose against Eden’s neck, then up underneath his jaw. Eden went still as the grave, nearly shaking with how much effort it took not to react. But the movement was chaste and sweet, San making soft little needy sounds but going no further. He didn’t try to kiss or nip at his neck, didn’t move his hips a single centimeter. He just… wanted to be close to someone.

And then the moment came crashing down when he seemed to realize that the person he was cuddling was very much _ not _Yunho. Eden felt him stiffen, felt him freeze in what he could only assume was absolute horror, likely expecting to be thrown across the room at any moment.

San opened his eyes, finding Eden watching him. He gulped, trying to skitter back across the mattress, put some distance between them as he stammered out an apology, but—

Eden didn’t let him move.

Eden just held him tighter, reeling him back in until he was tucked up under his chin again, plastered against his chest.

“Wait, wait. You… like this, right?”

San was eerily quiet and still for a long moment before Eden felt him nod slowly.

“Then it’s okay.” He assured calmly, releasing San with one hand to pet through his hair. 

After a moment, San pulled back, staring at him with a mix of confusion and gratitude.

“You don’t have to. I know how you hate this.”

“I don’t hate it.” Eden admitted softly. “Just took some getting used to, is all.”

San just blinked up at him for several long seconds before his face crumpled a little, tears escaping the corners of his eyes and falling down his face.

Eden panicked a little, bringing his hands up to cup his cheeks and wipe them away with his thumbs. “N-no, wait, don’t cry. I didn’t mean… I wasn’t trying to—”

“Eden, it’s fine.” San said, his voice a little squeaky. “It’s… they’re—I’m just relieved. And grateful. Thank you.”

“Oh.” Eden murmured, sounding a little lost. “Yeah. Of course.”

“Could you pet my hair some more?” San asked in a pouty voice, leaning against him again. “That was nice.”

“Anything you need.” Eden said, doing just that.

He was surprised at how willing he felt in that moment to follow up on that claim. He just wanted San to be all right. He _ needed _him to be all right.

Not just for the sake of the mission, but because it hurt to see him suffering.

For a moment, Eden felt he could understand why Seonghwa was always so willing to fall on the sword for his fledglings. Eden was already starting to feel that way, too.

***

San and Eden did not speak of what had occured the day before. Instead, they just continued on as if they had both simply slept through the night. San had gotten up first, showering quickly and found Eden mindlessly scrolling through his phone when he walked back into the main room of the suite.

“I think I’m ready to go back out there.” San said in a quiet voice as he towelled off his damp hair.

Eden looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “You sure? It’s only been two days.”

San nodded.

“I don’t know. You went through a lot…” Eden trailed off.

“What, do I have to prove myself now?” San snapped.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I meant… well, I don’t really know how to put it, but you’re still recovering. You need to take it slow. Baby steps. You know?”

“Okay, why don’t we go out just for fun, then? No work, just play. It’ll help get my head out of this funk.” San suggested.

“I guess going out to the club _ is _ your brand of self-healing when it comes to stressful situations.” Eden said with a huff of a laugh. “Okay, we can go out. But I’m not leaving your side. If you feel overwhelmed at any moment, we bail. Got it?”

“You don’t need to be glued to me, but I get it.” San grumbled as he agreed to Eden’s terms. “I’ve got a feeling you don’t really wanna be around for the kind of stuff I plan to get up to.”

Eden grimaced. That was probably true.

As they were getting ready for the night, Eden was keeping a close eye on San, watching to try to pick up on any major red flags before they headed out. Normally when San started preparing for the night, he was dead set in his mission, whether it be clothing or makeup but Eden had noticed he was hesitating more than normal. At one point Eden noticed San was just standing there, holding two different shirts in his hands, gaze focused on something far in the distance.

“San?” Eden called.

San gave a quick shake of his head as he came-to. “I’m fine. Just couldn’t decide on a shirt.” He said with a wide smile.

“Okay…” Eden replied in a mildly dismissive tone.

It wasn’t thirty minutes later when Eden noticed San zoning out again while doing his makeup. He was working aggressively on his contour when he just stopped what he was doing and slowly put his brush down, his eyes focusing on a spot on the top of the vanity.

“San, are you _ sure _ you’re fine?” Eden asked again.

“Yeah!” San quickly replied. “I’m just tired. It’s fine. I just need to wake up.”

Eden was mildly concerned at San’s disposition and how often he was losing himself in his own head, but he knew that San coped best using some form of distraction, so he didn’t outright stop San’s plans to head to the club just yet. Instead, he allowed San to pick a club he’d like to go to within a close walking distance. 

Of course San chose a rather luxurious place called Vanity that had an equally expensive cover charge at the door.

Just like clockwork, San waltzed past the line of people waiting to get in and headed straight for the bouncer.

“Howon!” San called in a cheery voice. “Long time no see!”

San gave the bouncer a playful pat on the arm before running his hand over the bouncer’s massive bicep, giving it a slight squeeze.

“Oh my god, have you been working out recently?” San asked with a sly smile.

“No, not really.” Howon replied in an unimpressed tone.

“Look Eden,” San said as he held the bouncer’s arm near his face. “His muscles are as big as my face! Isn’t that so sexy?”

“Uh, yeah, sure is.” Eden reluctantly replied.

“So, Howonie,” San began in an aegyo tone as he turned back to the bouncer. “What do you say you let me and my friend here have a free pass?” San was playfully pressing his pointer fingers together.

“The cover tonight is two-hundred thousand won per person.” Howon replied.

“Yeah… but what about for _ me?” _San said with a pout as he batted his eyelashes. “You can’t say you haven’t missed me.”

“Two-hundred-thousand won.” Howon rebuffed. “And there’s a line.”

Howon directed San and Eden to where the end of the line was. San gave a bit of a huff and stomped off towards the end of the line, dragging Eden with him.

“I can’t believe that didn’t work.” San grumbled to himself. “I can’t believe I’m having to wait in _ line _ to get into a _ club _.”

“That was sort of really awkward to watch.” Eden commented offhandedly.

“Do you know when the last time I was denied entry into a club was, Eden?” San quipped back. 

Eden just gave a bit of a shrug to humor him.

“Well it was before you were born!” San huffed. “Ugh, come on San. You’re better than this!” He gave himself a few slaps on the cheek as if to psych himself up.

It was a full hour before they made it to the front of the line. Of course San had left his wallet back at the suite and Eden ended up having to angrily foot the four-hundred-thousand won cover fee. But this was for San. San _ needed _ this. At least that is what Eden kept telling himself so as not to punch San at a moment’s notice.

“Let me get us some drinks, you grab somewhere to sit for a bit, okay?” Eden grumbled as he headed off to the nearest bar to find the strongest liquor they had available, even though he knew it wouldn’t do a damn thing for either of them.

By the time Eden returned to San, who had taken up residence in a small corner booth, a human had already approached San. They had all but thrown themselves over the table, unashamedly flirting with him. San actually seemed into it, so Eden held off for a moment, just watching from a distance. 

The human slid around the side of the table and cozied up beside San, a devious smile spreading across San’s face. The human leaned in to kiss San’s neck, but as soon as he made contact with skin, San pulled away as though he’d been burned, putting a solid meter between them. His eyes were wild. The human reached a hand out automatically, and an instinctive action, San grabbed the human and slammed them down on the table.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” San snapped as he held the human in place, one hand firmly on the back of their neck as he pressed the side of their face into the table top.

“You—you told me to kiss you!” The human sputtered out in a panic.

At that point, Eden had quickly downed his drink and rushed over, grabbing at San’s wrist.

“San, what the hell?” Eden hissed.

San suddenly snapped back to reality, coming to his senses and letting go of the human before slowly sinking down onto his seat.

“The fuck is your problem?!” The human muttered angrily, rubbing at the reddening skin at their neck where San had gripped a little too forcefully.

“I am so sorry, he’s been dealing with a lot of shit recently and is a little out of it.” Eden responded. “He’s not normally like this, I swear.”

“He’s psychotic.” The human said, giving them both an angry glare before he slid out of the booth and took off. 

“Maybe coming out tonight wasn’t the best idea.” Eden started to say. “We should head out.”

“No.” San protested, slowly righting himself again in his seat. “Please. I swear I’ve got things under control now. I was just in a funk—uh… a bad mood from earlier. Just give me one more chance.”

Eden let out a long, frustrated sigh. “If I do give you one more chance, is there anything I can do in the interim? You seem kind of on edge, and I don’t think repeating the same actions with the same variables is gonna yield different results, you know?”

San contemplated Eden’s proposition for longer than Eden had expected.

“I mean, there’s one thing.” San started to say quietly. “But I wouldn’t want to ask that of you.”

“I am not letting you give me head in public if that’s where you’re going with that.” Eden quipped.

“Why is that always where your mind goes? Like, damn, if you want me suck you off again _ so _bad you just have to ask.” San replied sarcastically.

Eden aggressively rolled his eyes, ignoring the way that claim made his stomach swoop. Even if he intrinsically knew it to be true, it was somehow different to _ hear _it.

“No but seriously, what is it you were thinking?”

“Well… sometimes when we’re back at the mansion, Wooyoung will let me have a little bit of his blood if I’m really stressed over something. Gives me a nice buzz and helps me calm down a little. But I wouldn’t want to force you to—”

“I’ll do it.” Eden cut him off. “It’s not like I haven’t given you my blood before.”

Eden was already rolling up the sleeve of his shirt before San could get out another word.

“Here.” Eden said, shoving his wrist in front of San’s face.

“Are you sure?” San asked as he gently took a hold of Eden’s arm, pulling it towards his lips.

“Just make it fast.” Eden grunted.

“Thank you.” San said in a tiny voice before baring his fangs and plunging them into the soft flesh of Eden’s arm.

The sensation for Eden was much different than the last time he had let San have some of his blood. The last time, adrenaline was pumping through his veins and he only did it to help lessen San’s suffering after he had been severely injured. Last time, it had just seemed like a necessary act and was merely a couple of pin-pricks.

But this time, this time was much more visceral and every fiber of Eden’s being seemed to momentarily be set alight at the same time. San only took a single pull before letting go and licking the small amount of remaining blood from his lips, but it had seemed like an eternity had passed for Eden as his tingling senses all fell back into place again in the real world.

“Mmm that hits the spot.” San hummed to himself, the potent fledgling blood already taking hold of him. “You good?” He asked Eden, lolling his head to the side.

“Uh, yeah, m’fine.” Eden muttered as he rolled his sleeve back down, the bite marks having already healed.

“Alrighty then.” San said, pulling himself out of the booth. “I’m going on the prowl.”

“Don’t do anything too stupid.” Eden sighed as he flexed the fingers in his hand, trying to get the weird tingling sensation to leave them.

“I’ll try.” San replied in a sing-song voice as he stalked off to find his prey.

Eden watched as San flitted between club patrons, striking up random conversations and judging their interest in whatever pleasure he happened to be in search of. If Eden hadn’t known any better, he could have sworn that there was no longer anything different about San and that he was back into his natural rhythm; flirty and confident.

It wasn’t long before San came across a familiar face and comfortably fell into his usual routine.

Eden watched as he talked the other vampire up from across the room. It wasn’t long before the vampire had shoved San up against a wall, one hand gripping onto San’s hip, keeping him in place. He roughly guided San’s chin with his free hand before shoving his tongue down San’s throat, San’s entire body going momentarily rigid before falling back into step.

“Jongin, _ please _.” San mewled as the vampire’s hand eclipsed San’s delicate facial features.

It seemed like San was still in control despite his cries. But after all that Eden had witnessed over the past several nights, he couldn’t be completely sure. And he wanted to be absolutely sure. He picked up his empty drink glass and cautiously made his way towards them, momentarily making eye contact with San.

“Everything okay here, San?” Eden asked as he walked past under the guise of going to grab another drink.

“What are you, his babysitter or something?” Jongin sneered, pulling away from San and eyeing Eden up and down.

Eden gave a bit of a huff even though the statement wasn't all that far from the actual truth.

“More like an overprotective covenmate.” San muttered with a laugh to Jongin. “Don’t worry about him.” San turned to Eden, changing his tone to something more bland and less flirty. “It’s cool, Eden. This is Jongin, I knew him back in the day. Everything’s fine.”

“If you say so.” Eden said as he continued on his way to the bar without any further comment.

Having already gotten bored of their current location, Jongin all but picked up San to carry him elsewhere. San clung around Jongin’s neck, giggling softly into his shoulder while he had his legs tightly wrapped around his waist. Jongin carried him over to an empty booth and sat him down on one of the plush benches.

“Anyway, where were we?” Jongin asked in a suggestive drawl, leaning in to suck a mark under San’s ear that faded an instant later.

“Seems like you missed me.” San cooed, enjoying the eagerness _ and _the attention.

"Definitely, gorgeous. Nobody sees you around anymore. It's like you've become a hermit within your own coven." Jongin scoffed. "You need to get out more. Come have some fun once and awhile."

Something Jongin had said suddenly triggered the flooding of memories back into San's mind. All he could think of was Minhyuk telling him his partner had said nearly the exact same thing mere nights before when devastation had struck. San's mind just kept repeating that same phrase over and over and over, causing him to check out of reality momentarily as anxiety began welling within him.

"Uh, yeah…" San breathed, devoid of any inflection of emotion.

"Hey buddy, stay with me here." Jongin laughed, giving San a small pat on the cheek.

San lolled his head to the side and gave a weak laugh, his eyes having glazed over.

“Thought I smelled fledgling blood on you, but I didn’t think you’d had _ that _ much…” Jongin leered, pinning San against the back wall in the booth and dipping down to nip at the column of his neck. “Reminds me of the good old days, when you used to get wasted and let all of us have our turn with you. What happened? Can’t hold your blood anymore? You never zoned out like _ this.” _

San barely made a sound, just a little grunt of a whimper that was easily swallowed by the surrounding noise. He pressed his palm against Jongin’s chest weakly, but it was hardly seen as a protest, given how easily he gave when Jongin pushed.

Across the room, Eden was trying to mind his business, but things didn’t look _ right _ to him. He wasn’t going to kinkshame anyone, most especially not San, but he just didn’t seem _ into _ it. And for all his acting, Eden had never seen San go completely dead fish on someone. Something seemed _ wrong. _

But, he didn’t want to overstep. San could handle himself. He’d laid out the first person with ease, and sure, this guy was a vampire, but San had laid Eden out no sweat. He could push the guy off if he really wanted to, surely.

Except… 

Except, the look on San’s face was so vacant and almost… fearful. Something was _ wrong. _ Eden threw back his second drink before crossing the room, grabbing Jongin by the scruff of his neck, _ hard. _

He started to stammer a protest and flail, but Eden ignored him, looking directly at San.

“Hey… San, are you okay?” He asked, feeling a little foolish, because San wasn’t fighting. He wasn’t doing much of anything.

“What the fuck, man? Lay off, we go way back, he already told you!” Jongin hissed, trying to reach back and claw at Eden’s arm to no avail thanks to the leather jacket he was wearing.

“I’m aware.” Eden snarled, gripping him so hard that Jongin yelped and went _ very _ still. San, however, still hadn’t said anything, or even _ moved. _Eden’s hackles went up as worry flooded through him. “San?”

“He’s drunk, man. On _ your _blood by the smell of you.” Jongin reasoned. “We were having fun, just chill out—”

“Another word from you before he speaks and I rip your spine out.” Eden threatened. “I’ve taken vampires’ heads for less. Do _ not _test me.”

Jongin shivered under him. “You’re a _ hunter? _Fuck, man, I was just—”

“That’s eight more words than you’re allowed.” Eden reminded him, and Jongin’s jaw promptly clicked shut.

San finally opened his mouth, but all that came out was a garbled whimper. Eden felt his heart sink and released Jongin, shoving him aside onto the floor as though he were trash. He didn’t waste any time before scrambling to his feet and scurrying away.

“San?” Eden tried again, his voice low and full of concern. “Sannie?”

San’s head finally snapped to him, the distant haze in his eyes clearing as they focused on Eden. He glanced behind him, seeing Jongin take off, and let out an involuntary shiver before reaching out to latch onto Eden’s hand.

“Go. I wanna go… I need to go…” San murmured, and Eden nodded, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet.

The entire walk back San was uncomfortably silent. He walked with his arms crossed tightly in front of him and his head hunched low. Eden had gently placed a hand on his shoulder to carefully guide him through the winding side streets as San’s body seemed to have switched to autopilot.

Once they had returned to the suite, San barely took three steps in the door before crumpling down to the floor. Eden panicked slightly thinking San was about to have another episode. But San just sat there splayed on the floor silently.

“Hey San?” Eden said gently. “Let’s take off your coat and shoes, hmm?”

San didn’t say anything but just stared straight ahead while nodding ever so slightly. Eden cautiously approached and helped pull off his boots and gently removed his jacket to hang up.

It took a lot of coaxing to simply get San up off of the floor and over to the bed. Eden tried asking if San wanted to wash up or get changed but San was almost completely unresponsive.

It was pretty obvious what San needed. San needed _ Yunho. _ But the trains weren’t running this late at night, and it would take him nearly two hours if he drove. San needed him _ now. _

San needed Yunho… but San didn’t have Yunho. He just had Eden. Eden, who was terrible at connecting with people, who had always been snappy and standoffish with San. Eden wasn’t who San needed right now.

But Eden was all that he had.

“I know it’s not the same. I know I’m not him.” Eden said, his voice a little strained. “But… whatever you need… I’m here. I’m not judging you, I’m not mad at you… just tell me how to make it okay again. Please, Sannie.”

Some part of Eden worried that he wouldn’t be enough, that San would just tell him to go away and try to deal with it on his own. And Eden wouldn’t even blame him. He was self-aware enough to know he was shit at emotions, his own of course but _ especially _those of others. He didn’t know how to offer comfort. He didn’t know how to support someone who was going through so much, the kinds of things that Eden had become numb to long ago.

But San didn’t shun him.

San just whimpered his sweet gratitude into Eden’s neck as he climbed into his lap and slid his arms around him in a tight embrace.

San just… needed to be _ held. _

Eden nodded to the unspoken request, murmuring a soft, “Okay, c’mere, it’s okay.”

He pulled San closer and shifted back until he was sitting up against the headboard for support, San seated on his thighs with his legs around his hips and his arms around his neck like some kind of octopus.

Eden wrapped his own arms around San’s waist, resting his cheek against San’s hair. “Easy, Sannie. That’s it. It’s gonna be okay.

He was just parroting Yunho’s words… the kinds of things he’d heard him say. He didn’t necessarily believe them.

But _ god, _he wanted it to be true.

***

Come the dawn, San was not faring any better.

Eden couldn’t offer him the warmth provided by a beating heart, or a million-watt smile that could light up a room. When Eden smiled, however rarely, he was certain he looked more like he was sneering. It had never come naturally to him, not since he was a young child.

He could hold San and pet his hair and whisper kindnesses all he wanted, but it wasn’t going to help. Because Eden just wasn’t a comforting presence, clearly.

After the sun had come up, Eden had shuffled them down onto the bed, still allowing San to remain in his arms… but it was clear he wasn’t finding sleep. He wasn’t tossing and turning, since he was held in Eden’s embrace, but he was twitchy, shivering at random intervals.

When San let out a frustrated sigh and wriggled in his hold, Eden let him go.

“What can I do, Sannie?”

The responding whimper he received was an answer in itself, but San continued regardless.

“I don’t… I just don’t know.”

Eden frowned, watching as he sat up and fixed his rumpled hair. “What’s… on your mind?”

His voice was quiet when he asked. Delicate. Like he knew just what horrible things he was going to hear.

“I just keep hearing his voice, over and over. And I keep seeing him laying there, his _ eyes, _ just… so vacant and lifeless. But at the same time... it was like he was staring right _ through me _. Desperately pleading for help.” San murmured in a haunted tone. “I need to… I need to get out of my own head.”

San had instinctively brought his knees up to his chest and was hugging them tightly, burying his chin behind them and trying his best to literally hold himself together.

“What, like with more of my blood? You need to be wasted?”

San shook his head. “No, outside an upbeat club setting that would probably just make me more miserable. I need…”

“You need Yunho.” Eden supplied.

“N-no, not Yunho specifically. He doesn’t really… uh. Well I mean we’ve _ dabbled _in some things but he’s not… really… it’s more of Yeosang or Seonghwa’s area…”

Eden blinked. “You lost me.”

San shook his head, hiding his face in his hands. “I can’t have this conversation with you. This is _ not _a conversation I’m prepared to have with you—”

“Hey.” Eden murmured, pulling his chin up gently. “Look, I know this isn’t ideal, okay? The rest of the coven will be asleep by now and it’s a hell of a drive even when you _ aren’t _tired, so I know it’s rough not being able to call on any of them. I know I’m not anyone’s first choice, or even their last choice, but if there’s one thing I can do, it’s adapt and overcome. So. Have the conversation with me.”

San took a quelling breath, pointless other than to center himself. He practically mumbled when he spoke again, almost seeming… embarrassed.

“I need to get into subspace.”

Eden thought on that for a moment, finally understanding why San felt he couldn’t have that conversation with him.

Not only was it sexual, but it was part of a subculture that Eden had only the barest knowledge of.

“Oh.” He frowned, pressing his lips together thoughtfully. “That… means you need someone dominant to… get you there, right? I’m not… I’ve never even _ vaguely—” _

“I know, I know.” San wailed. “That’s why I didn’t want to even bring it up. It’s not for everyone, I mean, Mingi can’t even get me there; he’s way too much of a pushover.”

“Okay. Um. For the sake of argument, how would someone, uh… _get you there? _Into… subspace?” Eden found himself asking.

San ducked his head again, hiding. “There’s a few things that work on me. Bondage is one, but we’re lacking in rope and I think we have like three belts between us… not enough, I’d rip right out of them. Another is just if I’m being fucked or used for a long time, but I really don’t see that working if you’re not physically interested in me.”

Eden was feeling very out of his comfort zone even just hearing San talk about those things. He swallowed down the discomfort, clearing his throat. “Anything else?”

“Um. There’s one thing that might work, and it’s not too far off from what we’ve done before.” San replied in a small voice. “Basically I would just need you to let me… uh.”

“Is this a dick-sucking thing? It is, isn’t it?” Eden asked flatly.

San shook his head. “Not really _ sucking, _ I mean, it _ can _get there, sure, but mostly I just need to. Have it in my mouth for a while. It’s, um. It’s called cockwarming.”

Eden tried very hard to not let the confusion show on his face. That would feel like kinkshaming by proxy. “So, me fucking your mouth? Again?”

“No, no.” San huffed. “I mean, it _ could _go there, but it’s better if you just… completely ignore me while I’m… yeah.”

“Uh huh.” Eden said slowly. “And that’ll get you into subspace?”

“It usually gets me there, yeah.” San answered.

“So what does subspace do that's gonna help you?” Eden asked.

“It’s just… blank.” San told him, his tone somewhat wistful. “Everything goes foggy and hazy and my brain is completely silent. Once I’m there, I can fall asleep pretty quick.”

Eden ran a hand through his hair nervously, thinking it over. It didn’t seem too difficult, and if it helped San, then it was an obvious choice. “Okay.”

“O-okay?” San balked. “What do you… what do you mean ‘okay’?”

“I mean okay, I’ll do it.” Eden clarified. “But I have some conditions.”

San appeared too shocked to really process that, murmuring a distracted, “Yeah?”

“Yes. Condition one: this is a BDSM thing, so you have to give me a safeword.” Eden said.

San nodded dazedly. “Yeah, uh, we usually do traffic lights. Green means go, yellow to slow down, red means full stop.”

“That’s fine.” Eden agreed. “Second condition: you need to be a _ lot _ more specific about what you expect from me. None of this ‘well it _ could _ go there’ or ‘it _ might _ be’ whatevers. I want you to tell me _ explicitly _what you expect from me, because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. So, pretend you’re trying to make me uncomfortable by vividly explaining how this has worked with the others, or at least exactly what you need right now. None of this embarrassed tap-dancing. We both know you’re unashamed about this kind of shit usually. Don’t clam up on me now because you’re afraid to ask for what you need.”

San swallowed. “Okay. Um. Where to start…”

Eden sat and listened while San regaled similar past exploits and detailed exactly what kinds of scenarios were acceptable for him. He focused on maintaining his composure, not letting himself react no matter how vividly something was described. He didn’t want San to feel judged, or to feel like Eden wasn’t up for it.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure of an alternate scenario where he _ would _have been, but at the end of the day, he was prepared to do anything to help San.

And it wasn’t as though the idea _ repulsed _ him. He was a little—a _ lot _—out of his comfort zone, but only for his lack of knowledge and understanding. He was more than willing to do what San asked, because he wanted to help him.

He wanted San back, _ their _San, who smiled and joked and teased freely with his coven.

And so, Eden settled into that boxy chair in the corner, making sure his phone was plugged in and within reach. He kept his own clothes on—even his _ shoes, _prompted by San to put them on—whereas San had stripped down to nothing, kneeling between his legs and looking up at him a bit warily.

They’d talked about San’s needs and expectations. He knew San liked to be smacked around, and that usually he’d be all for being humiliated, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about anything too degrading with his mind in the chaotic, fragile state it was in. Eden had agreed, not wanting to risk it anyway.

Eden cupped a hand under San’s jaw, staring at him critically for a long moment. “Okay?”

San cleared his throat and nodded, looking away. “Yeah, m’just… I don’t… I’m used to doing this with people who _ get it, _you know? Who won’t—”

“I’m not judging you, San.” Eden told him outright, and he meant it. “Just remember, we can stop at any time. Tell me your color’s red and everything stops.”

“My color is… maybe yellow.” San admitted. “I just… I need you to tell me it’s okay that I’m asking for this.”

“San.” Eden said in a serious tone, finally getting the other to look up at him again. “It’s okay to need this.”

San let out a shaky exhale, centering himself. “Green, m’green.”

“Okay.” Eden murmured, letting go of San’s chin. “Open your mouth.”

San obeyed, dropping his mouth open instantly.

Eden slowly pressed two fingers against his tongue, making sure his nails were retracted. “Suck.”

San trilled, both of his hands coming up to grab Eden’s wrist and pull the digits deeper as he eagerly sucked them down. But as soon as they were there, Eden retracted them, yanking himself out of San’s grasp and slapping him across the face with his other hand.

“I didn’t tell you that you could touch. Keep your hands to yourself.”

San sat stunned for several seconds, going stock-still. It hadn’t been a particularly hard slap, not for what a vampire was capable of, but it had been done with enough purpose that his cheek was stinging.

“Color?”

San mentally cursed himself, realizing he’d been quiet for _ far _too long.

“Green, fuck, green.” He sputtered, folding his arms behind his back. “I’m sorry… sir.”

Eden raised an eyebrow. He didn’t exactly hate the form of address, so he allowed it. “Let’s try again.”

San nodded eagerly, keeping his hands firmly in place behind his own back as Eden pressed two fingers past his lips again.

“Better.” Eden grunted, tone on the fringes of praise. “Maybe you are capable of following directions after all.”

San gave a muffled response with another eager nod.

Eden let him do that for a little while, mostly to help San get out of his head a little, and also to break down the awkwardness a bit. Admittedly, though, he was blindly navigating this whole thing himself, so he was buying himself time as well.

Eventually he directed San to stop, allowing him the use of his hands to free him from the confines of his jeans. He could swear San’s mouth was watering as he finally got his hands on Eden’s cock, running his tongue over him languidly as though he were savoring it.

“You aren’t here to be a tease.” Eden reminded him in a stern tone, and San made a soft noise of agreement in response, shifting up on his knees a little.

He opened his mouth and in one swift motion, took Eden down to the hilt.

Eden held back a groan, swallowing. He knew San couldn’t choke, but it was still jarring to see him do that so _ easily. _

“Good. Now stay.” He murmured, petting San’s hair briefly before grabbing his phone.

San had told him to ignore him.

That seemed like an almost impossible task, but he could try. He definitely did _ not _frantically go through a VPN to Google search up a bunch of articles on subspace and cockwarming and the like. He was very nonchalant about it, actually, wanting to ensure San was none the wiser to his mild internal panic.

But San really just… sat there. For a long time. Eden read through several articles, twitter threads and forum posts before he even stirred, just enough to shift his shoulders a little. Eden ran his hand through San’s hair again and he trilled softly, muffled though the sound was.

It was hard to find specific information on this particular kink, but there was a lot of information on subspace. Most of it impressed the importance of trust. Someone in subspace wasn’t always coherent, so it was vital that their Dom understood their limits and their needs. Eden knew San was probably desperate to sleep, desperate to get a grip on his emotions in the wake of everything that had happened… but to trust someone like _ Eden _with something like this, it was… 

Well, it was a lot.

Eden did his best to pass the time productively, continuing his quest for more information on best BDSM practices as a whole. He was able to find a forum specifically tailored for practitioners of the vampire persuasion, which addressed their inability to choke or suffocate, but impressed the importance of understanding the limits of vampire strength, since it was still possible for vampires to harm each other. Eden actually became quite distracted reading through the forum, to the point of actually forgetting San was even there for a moment.

That was, until San shifted downward and moved his tongue in a way that was, frankly, _ sinful _ before sucking _ hard. _

Eden hissed, jolting a little in the chair. “Hey. What was that about? You know the rules.”

San just whimpered, bobbing his head once with a meaningful upward glance.

Eden cocked his head. “Do you think you earned it?”

San let out a whine, nudging forward until he’d taken Eden as deep as he possibly could. Eden gripped at San’s hair—not hard, just enough to keep him from moving further. He glanced at the clock, realizing they’d been there for over an hour. He hadn’t even realized. That kind of time was probably nothing to a nearly-century-old vampire, but then again, San had always struck him as somewhat impatient, so maybe that wasn’t the case. This was probably a feat for him.

“All right. But remember, keep your hands to yourself.” Eden replied.

San groaned eagerly, wasting no time. He had to spread his knees a little for the leverage to balance properly but once he had, he was able to bob his head in a consistent rhythm without falling forward, even without using his arms.

After a little while, he did eventually untangle his arms from behind him, one bracing on the floor while the other wrapped around his own cock. He groaned around Eden’s as he fisted his own, shivering from the sensation.

Eden, however, yanked San off of him with a rough hand in his hair all but instantly. San squealed softly in pain and something like disappointment as he was forced to stop what he was doing.

“You know damn well ‘keep your hands to yourself’ _ didn’t _mean ‘touch yourself’.” Eden scolded.

San let go of his own cock, splaying his hands out in something like surrender. “M’sorry, I’m—please, please, I need it—”

“Can’t even stand to focus on someone other than yourself for a few minutes, huh?” Eden goaded, and San whined.

“Thought I’d been good…” He murmured pathetically. He brought a hand up to brush his fingertips over the length of Eden’s shin through his jeans, dancing them lightly over the neatly-tied laces of his oxford boots. “Please.”

Ah. Of course. He’d asked Eden to put his shoes on. There had obviously been a reason for that.

Eden shook his head, pressing the sole of his boot against the underside of San’s cock until it was pinned beneath his navel. San let out an inhuman noise, both of his hands latching to Eden’s leg like a lifeline.

San practically sobbed when Eden pressed harder, his hips chasing the rough sensation.

“If you want to come, then you need to earn it.” Eden reminded him, releasing his hair and patting his cheek just forcefully enough to bring his attention back. 

San hummed a bit dazedly, though his eyes followed the movement of Eden’s hand as he made to set it back on his thigh. Eden paused, regarding him for a moment.

“Do you want me to slap you again?”

San nodded, his eyes still lingering on Eden’s hand.

“Look at me.” Eden ordered, and San slowly drew his gaze upward.

As soon as their eyes locked, Eden slapped him across the face again, a little harder than the first time. San’s grunt of pain evolved into a satisfied moan as he closed his eyes for a moment, reveling in the sting of it.

Eden grabbed his hair once more, yanking his face back down. “Now, do you want to finish what you started?”

“Uh-huh…” San slurred, licking his lips.

Eden let him go and slapped him again, not quite as hard. “Words.”

“Yes!” San bleated out. “Yes, sir.”

Eden watched San carefully as he threaded a hand back into his hair and forced his head down once more. It seemed like he was getting close to zoning out. Eden just needed to push him a little further.

“Better. Now open your mouth.”

San obeyed, dropping his mouth open and letting his tongue rest over his bottom lip. Normally Eden would have grimaced at the lewd display, but it was clear San wasn’t doing it just to rile him up. He was deep into it, like all he wanted was to get his mouth on him again.

Eden fed him his cock, and San was quick to start those filthy motions with his tongue again. Eden tightened his hand in the other’s hair, making a reprimanding sound.

“Ah-ah, don’t move. Just take it. If you move, I take my foot away.” Eden warned, pressing his boot harder against San’s cock for emphasis.

San whined out a garbled moan and perhaps a sound of understanding, his tongue stilling.

“There.” Eden said, rolling his hips experimentally. San didn’t move, just taking him deeper into his throat without protest. Eden picked up his pace, and San continued to take it eagerly, rutting his hips against the pressure of his foot and whimpering until there were tears streaking down his face.

“Do you need to come? Are you close?” Eden asked between shaky thrusts. San sobbed out something that sounded affirmative, muffled though it was. “It’s okay, you can come, Sannie.”

San let out a strangled wail as he rutted hard against Eden’s boot a few more times and then he was coming, making a mess of his own abdomen. A bit of it dripped onto Eden’s boots, but he really wasn’t all that concerned about them.

San’s hands were shaking as he braced them against Eden’s shins, needing them for balance as Eden picked up his pace again. He was getting dangerously close, and he could see San’s gaze becoming unfocused, but it looked like he wasn’t quite there yet.

Eden bit back a curse as he felt his orgasm start to wash over him, pulling San all the way down onto him and holding him there. “Swallow.”

San did so without protest, the way his throat constricted around him causing him to hiss as his hips jerked a little.

“That’s it. Good boy.”

It was like he’d flipped some secret switch.

San’s shoulders dropped, his grip going lax and his eyes going hazy. His tears stopped falling, but he remained where he was, appearing content to stay there with Eden’s softening cock in his mouth.

Eden moved his foot away and loosened his grip on San’s hair, running his hand through it a few times before scratching gently at his scalp. “Sannie? You okay?”

San just grunted, but when Eden tried to ease him off, he whimpered in protest and curled his fingers into Eden’s jeans.

“Okay… but only for a little while longer.”

San seemed to accept that, letting his eyes fall closed.

A nebulous amount of time later, Eden was getting tired and he figured it had been long enough. He brought his hand down to San’s chin, gently nudging him back and stroking his thumb across his cheek.

“C’mon, s’time for bed.” He coaxed, and San groggily complied, his eyes fluttering open as Eden extracted himself from his mouth.

San blinked deliriously for a moment, his eyes eventually trailing down to the mess he’d made of himself and Eden’s boot. He dipped low against the floor and licked the shiny leather clean with long, slow strokes of his tongue. Eden ignored the way his gut churned with warmth at the sight, filing that away to be addressed another time (realistically never).

“That’s enough.” Eden murmured, stern but gentle, pulling him back up from the floor. San obeyed, staring at Eden with a spaced-out expression, like he was looking right through him.

San had warned him just what subspace entailed, and the reading had helped. Eden had been more than a little wary about San potentially becoming non-verbal, because he wanted to be able to depend upon his direction, but San had assured him it would be fine.

_ “Just lead me to the bed, clean me up and tuck me in. I’ll be out in minutes,” _ he’d said. Simple.

Except… seeing San so vacant and non-responsive was—well, it was jarring. San _ always _had something to say. When he didn’t, it usually meant that he was hurting in some way.

But now, he had a small smile on his face, his eyes hazy with contentment.

“Sannie? You with me?” 

“Mm.” He hummed in response, his expression unchanged as he blinked slowly.

“Okay. Let’s get you to bed.” Eden mumbled, trying to act with more confidence than he felt in that moment.

He did exactly as San had instructed. He got him into bed, cleaned him up and tucked him in. The moment Eden had finished changing into his sleep clothes and climbed in after him, San gravitated toward his warmth, latching onto him as he’d done so many times before.

“G’night…” Eden murmured softly, pressing a kiss to San’s forehead and letting his lips linger there. He was worried. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this had been a bad idea, that it was only going to make things worse, or at the least, more complicated.

But before he could dwell on it, San had fallen asleep, dozing sweetly against his chest.

He could only hope his worries were unfounded, and that this would help San after all.

***

It took two more nights before Eden felt that San was finally ready to go out again. They didn’t talk about what had happened… mostly because San didn’t bring it up—other than to say how well he slept, and offer a genuine thank-you—and Eden sure as hell wasn’t going to mention it, only responding with a mumbled “it was nothing”. When San managed to sleep through the next day without issue, Eden figured the worst of it had passed.

It could not have been better timing, as Jongho had sent Eden some intel that they thought their target was on the move. He would most likely be hitting up Club Lucky that night looking for his next victim. San scanned over the photos Jongho had sent and he was certain he recognized the man from En Noir and would easily be able to point him out at the club. 

It was time to make their final move, but Eden had to make sure San was in the right headspace or else the entire mission would fall apart.

“I’m gonna fucking _ end _ this guy.” San muttered as he put the finishing touches on his makeup.

“We aren’t going out there guns blazing, San. We stick to the original plan. Locate and lure.” Eden reminded him.

“I know that. But now we’ve got this guy’s face, and once I spot him again, I’ll have everything. His scent, the sound of his voice, his goddamn _ shoe _size—”

“Okay, just… don’t get carried away. We still have to catch him in the act before we can take any kind of action.” Eden replied.

“He’s never gonna hurt anyone else again.” San gritted out, determined.

“Hey, look—look at me.” Eden said, his voice stern and commanding but somehow gentle as he took hold of San’s chin and tugged upward until their gazes met. “Where’s your head at?”

“M’fine, Eden, I won’t go off half-cocked. Promise. Catching this guy is more important than revenge. I won’t forgive myself if we lose him again.”

Eden nodded, accepting the answer. “All right. We take it slow. Even if you’re one_ -hundred _ percent sure it’s him, we _ still _take it slow. Got it?”

“I copy.” San replied with a determined nod.

Eden let him go, but before pulling away, he stroked his thumb over San’s chin, then his cheek, in a quelling, almost affectionate gesture. San appeared puzzled for a fraction of a second before it dawned on him that they were about to be going out in public, and they were supposed to look like a couple for tonight’s cover.

He responded with a warm smile, one that made his eyes become little crescents and his dimples appear prominently at his cheeks. He undoubtedly didn’t _ feel _ that much joy or fondness in that moment, but he was—as established—a _ very _good actor.

Eden let out a small, involuntary sound that he was very quick to swallow down, forcing himself to look away. When the hell had he stopped seeing San as obnoxious and irritating and started seeing him as utterly fucking adorable? Everything San did grated on his nerves. Except. Now it just… didn’t.

Because he knew that smile was earned. He knew it wasn't some flippant, meaningless thing. It was _ deserved. _Choi San deserved happiness, after the things he’d seen.

Eden set his shoulders, looking out the window and toward the city skyline.

They had to catch this guy tonight. More than just for San’s sake… for a city full of vulnerable vampires, for justice for those slain… 

But all Eden could think about was catching the killer, so that San could finally have some closure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone say “Thank you ColourandCity” for letting ScarlettSiren go feral and add the cockwarming scene, even though it's what delayed the chapter for DAYS (I'm so sorry T^T)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire fic was built around some of the scenes that are in this chapter, which I (ScarlettSiren) have been sitting on for -months-. It feels great to finally get this out there. Thanks for sticking with us!!

The air between Eden and San was charged with tension as they arrived at Club Lucky, per Jongho’s intel. They had no idea what to expect, but there was something unspoken between them. They both felt it… that the murderer would strike tonight.

The two of them had Jongho and Mingi on standby back at the mansion in case they needed quick access to any databases, but Eden was hoping things wouldn’t get that complicated.

Walking into the club, they were extremely early by San’s normal standards, as it was barely eleven but at least that meant no lines. At that point in the night, the club was still fairly empty and Eden could see San becoming more and more anxious as the minutes ticked past. San’s eyes were surveying the crowd and the entrance almost non-stop, looking for that one familiar face.

“Easy San.” Eden muttered as he ran his hand up San’s leg and gave his thigh a light squeeze.

“I know, I know.” San replied. “I’m just—what if he doesn’t show?”

“He’ll show.” Eden reassured him. “When has Jongho ever been wrong?”

“I mean there was the one time where he wouldn’t admit that I gave the best head in the house because he apparently ‘_ wouldn’t know’ _ but other than that…” San’s voice trailed off as he noticed a gaggle of new patrons come through the door, scanning each one of their faces.

Eden gave a small huff. It seemed as if San was finally easing back into his old self as his sarcastic sense of humor was beginning to show. It was a bit of a relief.

“I’m gonna do a quick lap of the place and grab some drinks.” Eden stated as he stood up. “You stay here.”

“Uh huh. Sure. Get me something fruity and make it expensive.” San mumbled in a distracted tone as she waved him off.

Eden leaned down and planted a quick kiss above San’s cheekbone. San’s eyes went wide momentarily and he turned to face Eden, his brows having knit together in mild confusion. San just blankly looked at Eden as if he was waiting for some sort of explanation but Eden just smirked and backed away in the direction of the bar.

“He’s _ really _ committing to the bit tonight.” San muttered to himself with a raise of his eyebrows as he turned his eyes back to the door.

His focus was momentarily broken again as intrusive thoughts flooded through his mind. He quickly looked back over his shoulder again as Eden disappeared into the crowd, lingering a moment before giving his head a bit of a shake and forcing himself to focus on the mission at hand.

Eden slowly made his way through the club, doing his rounds. The club itself wasn’t that big but the layout was almost maze-like as it wasn’t open like the majority of the other clubs. The interior was extremely compartmentalized with different themed VIP rooms branching off of the main bar areas and dancefloors. The main bar and dancefloor were located on the ground floor of the club and a second smaller bar and dance floor were located on the second floor. Since San had his eye on the main entrance and ground floor, Eden headed up to the second floor to get a general feel of that layout up there as well.

As he was passing by one of the small seating alcoves, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Doubling back a couple steps he looked over to see a young man, a _ human _ man, a human man who he _ most definitely _ recognized from the Bureau sitting on one of the benches that lined the wall, a vampire straddling his lap. The vampire was gently nipping at the man’s jawline as he let out a long, satisfied groan.

“Donghan?” Eden asked with a raised eyebrow.

The young man’s eyes quickly flicked over to Eden standing mere feet away and immediately went wide in shock. In an erratic, panicked move, he shoved the vampire off his lap and they went tumbling to the floor having been caught completely off-guard.

“E-E-Eden?!” Donghan stuttered out. “Wh-what are you do—” He stopped mid-sentence, frantically rolling down his shirt sleeves and buttoning his collar but not before Eden’s eyes fell upon several small puncture marks lining his arms and neck.

“I didn’t take you for the clubbing type.” Eden scoffed.

“Haha yeah… it’s, uh… just something I thought I would try out. Yeah.” Donghan nervously ruffled his hair and rubbed his neck.

Donghan had worked with Eden at the Bureau for half a decade and he had always been a terrible liar.

“Uh huh…” Eden murmured in a condescending tone, looking over both Donghan and the perturbed vampire who was slowly picking themselves off the floor.

“The fuck, Hannie?” The vampire was evidently pissed as they threw themselves down on the bench beside Donghan.

“Sorry! Sorry. I’m Sorry.” Donghan blurted out, turning back to them and making panicked hand gestures.

“This all consensual?” Eden asked, looking over at the vampire and giving a nod towards Donghan.

“What are you? A cop?” The vampire scoffed as they eyed Eden up and down.

Eden himself went into a mild panic thinking he could have unintentionally outed himself so easily.

“Consider me a concerned _ coworker.” _ He rebutted coolly.

“A human and a vampire working together? That’s a new one.” The vampire huffed, rolling their eyes and crossing their arms. “Could have just admitted you’re a jealous ex.”

Donghan’s eyes went wide as they flitted between Eden and the vampire as their conversation became more heated and his nervousness ramped up to the next level.

“Alright, then I’m a jealous ex, what of it?” Eden lied, playing the vampire’s game. “I’ll ask again, is this consensual?”

“Yeah it’s consensual.” The vampire bit back. “I’m not stupid enough to just go around biting unwilling humans. I don’t have a deathwish.”

Meanwhile, Donghan’s face had flushed bright red in embarrassment as he had tried and failed to keep his cool, his fingers aggressively grabbing at and twisting the loose fabric of his pants. Eden took a couple steps closer and Donghan quickly averted eye contact.

“So, uh, guess I’ll be seeing you at the, uh, council meeting next month?” Donghan blurted out with a nervous laugh, still refusing to make eye contact with Eden. “Nice seeing you again now, uh, I’m sure you have many other things to attend to.” He nervously tried to wave Eden off.

Eden leaned down until he was just inches from Donghan’s face, Donghan pressing himself back into the wall as tightly as he could. Eden could literally smell the embarrassment of being caught at such an establishment on him. He cracked a crooked smile, just enough to show his fangs. Donghan’s eyes moved to regard Eden’s teeth and then quickly looked away again as he gulped loudly.

“Remember not to get too carried away.” Eden said as he gave Donghan’s cheek a light pat with his hand before pulling away. “See you on Monday.”

“Y-y-yessir!” Donghan stuttered out, his face burning as bright red as humanly possible.

Eden turned and left to continue on his rounds with a small laugh and a shake of his head.

Some time later, Eden returned to San, a large drink in hand.

“Here.” He said bluntly as he slid the drink over to San.

“What’s this?” San asked, looking over the garish pink cocktail.

“It’s what you asked for. ‘Something fruity and expensive’.”

“I didn’t actually expect you to—uh, thanks.” San replied in surprise.

“So, seen our guy yet?” Eden asked.

“Nope.” San sighed in a frustrated manner.

“Well I’m sure he’ll turn up soon enough.”

“I know, I know I just want to get this over with.” San replied, anxiously balling his fists before grabbing the large drink in front of him and downing it in a matter of seconds. “Ugh that tasted _ awful _.” He cringed, sticking out his tongue and looking over the empty glass.

“Well, I’m gonna continue my rounds and keep watch on the second floor.” Eden stated bluntly. “I’ll meet you back at the bar in thirty minutes, okay?”

“Copy that.”

The thirty minutes seemed to fly by but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, at least not from Eden’s perspective.

“Still nothing?” Eden asked as casually as possible as he slid up next to San at the bar, motioning toward the bartender for another drink.

“That guy in the corner. You see him? He’s been making eyes at me for a while, but he hasn’t made a move. Definitely not a regular given how rigid his stance is, but I’m afraid if I approach it’ll scare him off. Ninety-nine percent certain it’s our guy though.” San said quietly. Eden casually glanced over, but the guy seemed to notice, immediately looking alert. “Shit, he’s gonna make us—quick, kiss my neck. Like you _ mean _it.”

Eden did his best not to make a face, pressing into the space between San’s legs and leaning down to kiss at his neck. He tried to make it look rough and possessive, letting his hand travel over San’s hip and upward before gripping hard at his waist. He’d never noticed how _ slim _ it was. It almost made him seem _ tiny. _

San made a show of it, moaning softly and arching up. He caught the human’s gaze from the corner and gave him his best bedroom eyes, biting his lip seductively. The guy no longer looked ready to bolt, not exactly relaxing but seeming less spooked.

San turned his face to Eden’s ear, nipping at it softly. “I’m gonna get up and go for it. Swat my ass and tell me to have fun. Make it believable.”

Eden hummed in acknowledgement, kissing the high curve of his cheek before letting him go. “I’ll be right behind you. He tries anything, you scream.”

“Yessir.” San replied in a lilting tone, batting his lashes as he pulled back and jumped down from the barstool.

As promised, Eden slapped his ass, San trilling at the force of the hit.

“Have fun, baby.”

San grinned, eyes leveling on that human in the corner before he stalked over like a cat seeking its prey.

He didn’t flee.

He watched San somewhat warily, until he was right in front of him. Instead of joining him on the couch, he dropped to his knees in front of it, leaning over on the cushions and looking up at the guy with a sort of overly-innocent expression.

“Saw you watching me.” San said, fluttering his lashes to really sell it. “You seem like you’re new around here. Looking for someone to show you around? Or…”

He let his fingertips travel up from the couch cushion to the stranger’s leg, feeling him jolt beneath the touch.

“Are you just looking for someone to show you a good time?”

The guy swallowed, his heartbeat picking up, but not as much as someone who was aroused.

“That depends, you gonna try’n bite me?”

San pouted, his fingers still trailing their way up the man’s thigh. “Only if you want me to. But if not…we can have fun in plenty of other ways.”

“Oh yeah?” The guy asked in a tone that was more goading than anything. He wasn’t timid. San had a feeling this could really be their man.

“Yeah.” San replied, biting his lip. “You wanna get out of here?”

The man grinned, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I’d love to.”

***

When San stepped out into the alley behind the club, ushered through an employees-only side exit by this mysterious stranger, he was certain this was their guy. Eden would have trouble tailing them here, he would more than likely just loiter by the door and listen for trouble. If he could even hear them over all the racket inside, that was.

San noticed out of the corner of his eye that the man had quickly doubled back and jammed the door they had just passed through. Shit. That would make it difficult for Eden to make any sort of move if San was actually in trouble. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he was getting in over his head. 

“Not one for small luxuries, are you, huh?” San teased, trying to appear unbothered. “What’s your name? Mine’s San.”

“No names.” The guy told him abruptly. San was a little taken aback, and also pretty annoyed.

“Well all right then…_ mysterious stranger. _ What do you like?” San asked, dropping back into his role easily. He let his fingertips play over the buttons of the man’s shirt, teasing. “I’m not some baby vamp, you know… I’ve got a _ lot _of experience. I’m happy to show you.”

“Oh yeah? How much?” He asked, genuinely sounding interested.

“Nearly a hundred years’ worth.” San drawled, running his tongue over his bottom lip.

“Baby-face like you? No shit.” The guy responded.

“Yeah, m’ninety-one. I look great, don’t I?” San cooed, wiggling his shoulders a little. “So, can I show you a bit of what I’ve learned in all those years? What do you like?”

“Mm, guess I’m not really sure what I like yet.” The guy told him as he let San move in close, their lips nearly touching. He felt the guy’s hands move up, figuring he was going to grab onto his belt or waist or something. Instead, he pulled something out of his pocket, shoving it against San’s side.

Searing pain erupted through San’s middle as the flesh burned away, the UV rays from the device cooking through his insides. He wailed and collapsed onto the filthy alley floor, writhing in agony, trying desperately to hold himself together amidst the crippling pain.

“Oh, I guess I do know what I like.” The guy said, pocketing the ultraviolet taser. “I like watching vampires suffer and die.”

San whimpered, trying to crawl away… but every movement hurt as his body tried desperately to knit itself back together. He saw a glint of metal as the guy pulled out a length of razor wire that was wrapped at both ends, just like hunters used.

“And you? You’re almost a _ hundred. _ You might be the oldest yet for me. Too bad you aren’t nine years older. Killing a hundred-year-old vampire just _ sounds _impressive, doesn’t it?”

He kicked San in the gut, causing him to jolt and cry out in pain again.

“W-why… why are you doing this?” San asked, curling in on himself. 

San prayed that Eden had heard them. Eden _ must _ have heard them… but the door was jammed. Even if he knew San was in trouble, there was no direct way to reach him and San was about to die—

“You corpses took _ everything _from me. So now, I’m going to send you where you belong. Straight to hell!” The guy snarled, kicking San again. He pulled the wire taut, moving in for the kill, but before he could, he was tackled to the ground by a dark figure who had seemingly come from above.

After a moment, San could see that it was Eden, realizing he must have jumped down from the roof of the two-story building.

The guy jumped back, startled, brandishing his razor wire. “Come to save your little boyfriend? I’ll kill you too, you fucking blood-sucker.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Eden snarled, lunging for him.

Eden immediately went for the wire, shoving his arm against it before looping it around, letting it coil around his wrist and bite into his thick leather jacket. He used that grip to control the scenario and his attacker, pulling him closer and punching him square across the face. He was certain he heard some bones crack and the guy stumbled back before collapsing and dropping the wire, his face a bloody mess.

Eden quickly untangled the wire from his jacket, tossing it against a nearby pile of trash cans before going to San’s side.

“San, are you all right—?” He asked, his hands hovering over him as if unsure where to check for injury. “I couldn’t follow you out on the ground level, he jammed the door so I had to run up to the roof, and when I saw you on the ground I thought I was too late—”

“M’fine, he just… got one good one in on me.” San groaned, dragging his shirt up to survey the damage. The skin across his abdomen from his side all the way across to his navel was severely burned and still healing. The unseen damage underneath likely was pretty severe, too.

“Shit, you need blood.” Eden hissed, bracing a gentle hand against his opposite hip to keep him from squirming.

“Y-you need to subdue that guy first.” San said, pushing him away. “D-don’t… don’t let him get away—”

“Shut up for once in your long goddamn life.” Eden rebutted as he gingerly slid his hands under San's upper back and legs to carefully scoop him up into his arms.

“Eden, don’t be stupid.” San protested, but he was too physically weak to even attempt to stop Eden.

However, as soon as Eden so much as lifted San off the ground, the movement caused a severe wave of pain to tear through San's body.

"Wait wait wait stop stop STOP! San sputtered out, throwing his head down and gritting his teeth in hopes that the pain would subside.

But it didn't.

Eden let out a sharp hiss while he quickly carried San down to the other end of the alley as San had inadvertently dug his nails into Eden's shoulder.

"Put me down! Put me down!" San cried as the pain from the jostling intensified with every step.

Eden hesitated for a moment, looking for somewhere, anywhere he could safely put San down. His only option was a large pile of garbage bags. They would at least partially cushion San's body and keep him off the filthy pavement. He carefully lowered San down and rested him there. San gave a long, shuddery breath as his body slowly relaxed.

"Fitting," San said with a bit of a stifled laugh, taking in his immediate surroundings. "Leaving me out with the trash, where I belong."

"San, don't—" Eden tried to rebuff his statement while a look of heartbreak spread across his face before San raised a hand to stop him.

"No," San said sternly. "This is where you say something snarky like 'You're damn straight it's where you belong for letting yourself get smoked like that. Now I have a serial killer to catch.' Before you leave me here and go _ do your fucking job _."

Eden tried to garble out a response but failed.

"Go!" San yelled before giving another hiss, having moved slightly too much, which caused another wave of pain.

He hesitated for a moment before angrily pointing a finger at San. "I swear if you let yourself die I’ll… I’ll come back here and kill you myself."

"That would be rather counterproductive…" San quipped. "I'll be fine. Now go before I die out of frustration instead!" 

Eden turned on a heel and went to chase after their mark.

As soon as he was gone, San strained to reach the back pockets of his pants for his phone. It wasn’t there. He shifted himself slightly, letting out a long groan in pain as he attempted to check his other pockets but they were all empty as well. That is when it hit San that he had left his phone in the front console of the car on the way over.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” San groaned in exasperation.

San closed his eyes and slowly leaned his head back on the trash bags. The pain was unrelenting and there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to heal himself without blood, but he didn't want Eden to know that. They had a job to do, and if they didn't catch the guy, who knew how many more vampires would end up dead.

The only thing San could do was to try his best and block out the searing pain in his abdomen and focus his thoughts on something else.

That's when he suddenly heard the clanking and rattle of glass bottles spilling out onto the pavement. He slowly opened his eyes and rolled his head to the side to look down the alley at the source of the commotion.

About thirty meters away, a rather disheveled man was half buried in a dumpster, rummaging through its contents.

But he was human.

"Sir!" San hoarsely called out. "Excuse me, sir!"

The man quickly stopped what he was doing and pulled himself from the dumpster, spinning around to face San.

"I swear it's not what it looks like, I was only look—"

"It's none of my business what you were doing." San cut him off, "But I desperately need some assistance and you might be the only person able to help me. I have a proposition for you."

The man slowly approached San, looking rather concerned at the exposed burned flesh as he got closer.

“Sir, I was wondering if I could ask you a monumental favor. I promise I will make it worth your while.”

Surprisingly, the man didn’t jeer or cringe or even grimace. He took in San’s youthful appearance and light eyes… and he smiled.

***

Eden didn’t think he would ever have so much trouble against a human, especially now that he was a vampire, but this guy had come prepared. He had several anti-vampire weapons—many that were not meant to be available to the general public—and it was hard for Eden to get too close. Somehow, hunting a human was more difficult than hunting some vampires.

He was starting to believe that this guy might actually give him the slip when San managed to catch up to him, blood on his lips and injuries clearly better off.

“What the—you should be resting!” Eden barked, making to slow down or stop, only to have San squawk in protest and run faster until he caught back up.

“I’m fine, I’ll explain later.” He insisted. “Right now, we gotta catch this guy! I can’t believe you let him give you the slip! He’s _ human!” _

“I was preoccupied!” Eden snarled. “And he’s also armed to the teeth. The only reason I’m not dead is because he’s clearly not skilled with any of them, and as far as hunters go, I’m the best.”

“Humble, too.” San quipped.

“Beside the point. Maybe I’m confident but I’m not stupid.” Eden bit back. “What was that back there?”

“A miscalculation.” San admitted.

“He could have killed you earlier! That was _ really _ fucking stupid!” Eden berated.

“Yeah well that was stupidly fucking hot!” San countered. “What, did you come from the roof? Like fucking _ Batman?” _

“He would have noticed me if I was listening in from anywhere else.” Eden reasoned. “So I had the bright idea to bolt up two flights of stairs before he tried to murder you.”

“Better luck next time.” San quipped back with a chuckle. He halted, however, when he noticed the guy had climbed onto a motorcycle that was tucked back in another alley, revving it. “Shit, he’s gonna get away—”

“We need a car and we aren’t anywhere near ours—” Eden cursed, checking what street they were on.

“Better to ask forgiveness than permission!” San replied, taking stock of the nearby cars parked along the street.

Eden seemed to get what he was going for, moving toward a small sedan near him. “We can—”

“No, not that one, you idiot. That’s a human’s car. The windows.” San said, heading for a tricked-out sporty number parked on the corner. It was older, no newer than a late 90’s model, but it was clear the owner had put a lot of bells and whistles on it. “Like hell if I’m getting dragged into another fucking lawsuit with a bunch of humans. At least if I wreck a vampire’s car, they’ll be happy if I just pay them back.”

“I’ll... talk to Doyoung in accounting…” Eden sighed. “He’ll know what to do when all’s said and done.”

“Whatever, get in!”

Eden hadn’t even seen him force the door open, but he was especially concerned that _ San _ was the one driving. Regardless, he jumped into the passenger’s seat. “And just how do you plan to drive this car without its keys? And it’s a fucking _ manual? _No one drives manuals anymore—”

San didn’t answer, instead ripping out the plastic guard from underneath the wheel and pulling at two wires of varying colors. He split them, then tapped them together until the engine roared to life.

“Like that, genius.” San quipped, throwing the car into reverse and flooring it before turning out onto the street and putting it back in drive.

“Where the _ fuck _did you learn to hot-wire a car?” Eden balked.

“I have a myriad of random skills. Hot-wiring cars and picking locks are among them.” San answered distractedly, trying to catch sight of their killer. When he saw the tail light of the motorcycle weaving through the traffic, he gunned it in pursuit. “Is your seatbelt on?”

“You’re going to drop that kind of information on me like it’s nothing, then ask me if I’m wearing my fucking _ seatbelt?” _ Eden snarled.

“Yes!” San bleated. “Safety first!”

Eden clicked his belt into the buckle, if only to shut him up.

“Shit, he’s getting off the main road, he just went right.” Eden yelled, pointing after him.

“On it.”

“Slow down, you won’t make that turn.” Eden said, a concerned edge to his tone. “San… _ slow down.” _

“Just fucking _ trust me, _okay?!” San screeched, waiting until he was right upon the turn before letting off the gas. He shifted into first and cut the wheel before kicking the clutch, turning the wheel hard before releasing it. The wheel spun beneath his palm as he let the car drift out around the bend in a perfectly-controlled arc, the tires shrieking loudly. Once they cleared the corner, caught the wheel and straightened it out before gunning it, focused on catching up to the killer.

Eden just stared at him, shocked. “Where the fuck did you learn to _ drift?” _

“I might’ve gone through an adrenaline-sports phase in the early 2000’s!” San bit back. “Now quit backseat driving! I’ve had my license for longer than you’ve been alive! I had already been a vampire for over a decade by the time Hyundai was founded!”

“Yeah, yeah I get it, you’re a fucking billion years old!” Eden snapped, his gaze drifting to the wheel. They were in a Nissan, but Eden wasn’t going to say anything about it.

The car fell silent, but that only lasted for a scant few seconds before San cursed, swerving around a car that had been forced to dodge out of the killer’s way as he sped through an intersection on a red light. The blare of several car horns echoed as they whizzed past, and San reached over to snatch Eden’s phone out of his jacket pocket, dialing without even looking.

Mingi answered on the first ring. “Eden! How goes—”

“Less talking! Track this phone, right now. I need every light on this westbound stretch of road green, pronto.” San barked.

Mingi began typing, though his voice was hesitant. “That’s uh, super illegal, you know—”

“Did I fucking stutter? People are gonna die if you don’t hurry.” San cut him off. “Just go through a few hundred proxy servers and you’ll be fine.”

“Mingi, is Jongho there? Put us on speaker.” Eden spoke up.

There was a small pause, then Jongho was talking. “Go ahead.”

“Get on the radio and inform the police units nearby that a hunter is in pursuit of a highly armed and dangerous killer and not to engage, for their protection. Don’t mention the killer’s a human. That should keep them from sticking their noses into our business.”

“On it.” Jongho confirmed without argument.

San’s fingers thrummed nervously on the wheel as he stared straight ahead toward a sea of red lights, weaving around the rapidly-slowing cars in front of him. “Mingi…?”

“Five more seconds!” He replied in a strained tone, still typing like mad in the background. “Three... two… okay, you should be good!”

Before them, that sea of red quickly transformed to neon green.

“Fuck yeah.” San mumbled. “Thanks, I owe you!”

He hung up, dropping the phone into Eden’s lap before reaching for the radio.

“All right, let’s punch it!” San whooped as the sound of an upbeat EDM song floated through the speakers of the car, the deep bass vibrating the seats.

“This isn’t a movie.” Eden complained, scowling.

“No, but it’s sure as hell gonna end like one.” San quipped back.

“What does that even mean?” Eden shouted over the music.

“We are gonna chase this asshole down and put an end to this, once and for all.” San told him, his grip tightening on the steering wheel while he shifted gears with his other hand.

Eden could only hope.

The tires shrieked again, smoking as San was forced to burn out around a corner. Their target had chosen to head toward the warehouse district, which was at least better in the sense that it would be lacking in civilians. Without all the traffic between them, San had a lot easier time catching up with him. When Eden rolled down his window and unbuckled his seatbelt, however, San had his concerns.

"What the fuck are you—?"

"Just drive." Eden cut him off, pulling one of the smaller pistols from the holster beneath his jacket as he ducked out of the window, settling onto the door and taking aim.

"Oh sure, he tells _ me _it's not a fucking movie." San griped, rolling his eyes.

Eden took his time, watching the erratic sway of the motorcycle's tail light as the driver swerved through the abandoned street.

San cringed involuntarily when a shot rang out. The bullet found its mark, sinking into the rear tire and causing the bike to jolt.

Their quarry was a quick thinker, though.

As the bike slowed, so did San… just a hair. Before either of them knew what was happening, the guy had laid down the bike, tumbling down in front of it and kicking it out behind them. Toward them.

San cursed and cut the wheel, slamming on the brake. Eden's fingertips dented the hood with how tightly he gripped the car just to not go flying, bracing his legs against the center console and under the hood for leverage. By the time the car finally screeched to a halt, the killer had already climbed to his feet and booked it toward the nearest warehouse, tossing his duffel over his shoulder as he ran.

"Shit… fuck! Go after him!" San yelled, putting the car in park just as Eden jumped out of the window, sliding over the hood of the car.

"On it!"

San untangled himself from the seatbelt and kneed his own door open before following close behind.

Eden didn't even bother with subtlety in his pursuit, kicking open the door that the killer had gone through with his pistol drawn. The warehouse was dark, which gave him the advantage, but there were countless rows of boxes and crates that the guy could have been hiding behind. He didn't hear footfalls anymore, so he honed in on the sound of the man's beating heart, only for it to abruptly be drowned out by a high-pitched, droning noise that seemed to echo through the entire space.

Did this guy have some kind of device to fuck with vampire hearing? Where had he even _ gotten _such a thing?

Eden rounded a corner only to have his pistol knocked out of his grip. He and the human tussled, and it was a fight Eden would undoubtedly win... until the guy was shoving an unfamiliar, boxy device against his side.

He didn't get a chance to use it, though. Suddenly, San was there, tackling the guy to the ground with a snarl and knocking the small taser-like device out of his grasp.

They wrestled on the ground for a moment while Eden dove for his pistol, digging for it where it had slid beneath a pallet.

"You've got more fight than I was expecting for such a needy little bitch." The killer growled as he and San tumbled across the concrete, separating when San shoved him away, hard.

"And you've got a lot of fight for someone at the bottom of the food chain!" San snapped back, baring his teeth.

The two of them quickly got to their feet and started to circle one another. The killer was evidently starting to get winded as he let out a wheeze, dabbing blood from his lip onto the back of his hand.

“How small of a dick do you need to have to go on a murderous rampage all because your girl dumped your sorry ass?” San goaded, trying to buy time for Eden.

San had definitely struck a nerve.

“No. You don’t _ understand! _ Someone like _ you _ could never understand!” He bellowed.

“Try me.” San said with a roll of his eyes, still circling.

“She didn’t dump me. We were engaged, but then she got sick. I told her it wasn’t worth becoming a blood slave to a corpse like you, even if human medicine couldn’t save her… but then that bitch went behind my back.” The killer snarled. “She accepted blood from one of you demons, and then she allowed herself to be brainwashed into your _ cult. _ She actually let you bloodsuckers _ turn _ her!”

“Sounds like she made the right choice.” San said.

“No. It was the last mistake she ever made.” The guy bit back. “I couldn’t stand being around some _ vamp-fucker _so I took it upon myself to put her out of her misery.”

“Wow you really _ are _ pathetic.” San retorted, finally making a move and attempting to put the killer in a chokehold. “Imagine preventing someone from the life-saving treatment they want just because you’re a bigot.”

"Fuck you. It'll be fun when I finally kill you. Especially when I make your boyfriend watch." The guy gritted out, twisting in San's grip. Something glinted in his hand, but San didn't see it clearly before it was sinking into his thigh.

He shrieked in pain, quickly pivoting to pull it out; it was just a simple metal stake, but it was made of an incredibly strong material, sharpened to an insane degree. It couldn't cause permanent damage to a vampire, but it was designed to be able to harm them.

The bloodied stake fell to the floor with a metallic clang as San hissed in pain. The killer used his distraction to retrieve a different weapon, however... another length of razor wire. He wrapped it around San's neck, who barely had enough time to get his hand up between it and his neck to keep it from shearing his head clean off. It cut painfully into his skin as he tried in vain to elbow the guy, kick him, do anything he could to get him to loosen his grip.

A single shot rang out in the darkness, and suddenly, the pressure around San's neck was gone.

The killer's body fell back in a heap behind him, and then everything was still.

San let out a miserable, choked sound, loosening his grip on the wire where it was digging deep into his palm.

Eden dropped his gun, immediately going to his side. “Shit, Sannie, are you okay?”

San nodded dazedly as Eden pulled the wire away, tossing it aside. He checked his neck and hands and thigh, watching as the wounds knit themselves closed. “M’fine… shit… good save.”

“Fucking barely. If I’d not been able to reach my gun eventually, I was about to rip his throat out with my bare hands.” Eden admitted.

“That woulda been a hard one to sell to the Bureau.” San teased, grinning softly.

“Yeah, exactly why I didn’t.” Eden said. He grabbed for the guy’s duffel, snapping up that weird boxy device, too. He eventually managed to find the thing making the high-pitched noise that was fucking with their hearing and turned it off. “A hell of an arsenal this guy had.”

“Makes you wonder if he had some hunter friends, or if he just had enough money to get all that stuff with no questions asked.” San commented.

“I wonder about that.” Eden mumbled. “I might have to ask around.”

He began rummaging through the pile of weapons, starting to catalog everything in his phone for his report to the Bureau.

“Damn this guy came prepared.” Eden muttered. “More than prepared. He couldn’t have wiped out the entire club with a couple of these alone.”

“Guess we’re lucky he was fucked up enough to only lure out one vampire at a time.” San said idly as he picked up one of the guns the man had hidden on his person, carefully turning it over and inspecting it in his hands.

“Very lucky. The body count could have been so much worse.” Eden sighed. “Some of these things though, they make no sense.”

Eden picked up that small, black object again that looked like a taser. “Like what is this? A taser? How the hell did he expect to take down a vampire with a mere taser?”

San looked over just as Eden casually flicked the switch and the UV taser sputtered to life. San would have tried to warn him but it was too late. As quickly as the taser had turned on, Eden had tossed it to the ground, launching into a series of expletives as the radiation from the UV wave burned his hand.

Luckily, since it wasn’t direct contact and only a brief exposure, the burn was only enough to turn his skin red, and it healed within seconds… but the device still took Eden completely by surprise.

“The fuck was that?!” He cursed, kicking the device as far away from them as possible.

“Appears to be a taser that incorporates U/V rays.” San muttered. “That’s what he got me with earlier. And he almost got you, too.”

“What?!” Eden blurted out in disbelief.

“Yeah, direct hit to the side.” San said with a sigh. “Basically cooked me from the inside out. Hurt like a bitch.”

“How did you—but the pain?” Eden balked.

“I’ve had worse.” San said casually, brushing off the question while moving on to look over some of the other weapons with him, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“You are _ infuriating!” _Eden snarled. “You almost died, and you’re acting like it was nothing!”

“Oh, like you don’t do the same damn thing?” San scoffed.

Eden sputtered. “You—that’s different, it’s different for me. I’m a hunter.”

“And that’s why I trust you!” San shouted back. “I trusted you, okay? It was fine. I’m fine!”

An awkward silence fell over the warehouse as both of them tried to keep from saying something they would later regret.

“Speaking of your near brush with death, how exactly did you end up catching up with me so fast?” Eden asked.

San let out a long sigh, as if he knew this question was coming and had already prepared a long-winded response.

“Ran into a homeless guy. Turned out he was suffering from liver failure and ended up homeless due to the medical bills; experimental stuff that isn’t covered under insurance, you know? He went out to the vamp-clubs hoping to find someone willing to take him on as a familiar, but turns out most vampires he met were complete assholes to him and told him to get lost. I offered him the chance to become a familiar of mine in exchange for letting me have some of his blood. He agreed, no hesitation. I drank from him, then gave him a bit of my blood. After that, we both took a minute, healed up real nice and here we are.”

“I…” Eden was completely speechless.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t my first rodeo. I gave him my contact info and I’m prepared to financially support him as well, help get him back on his feet. I told him to give me a call sometime next week and I’d have a car sent out to pick him up so he can get another dose and I can have Seonghwa take a better look at him. In the meantime, the money I had in my wallet was enough to get him a hotel until then.”

Eden went to open his mouth to say something but San quickly cut him off.

“Yes, I plan on telling Seonghwa, don’t worry. He’s done this kind of thing a million times as well.”

“Well, I guess I’m glad things worked out...” Eden mumbled.

“Me too, or else I’d still be suffering on the floor of that alley, and you would’ve lost the target.” San teased.

“Hey.” Eden grunted, but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Anyway, you done with your official Bureau procedural shit yet? Because I’m thinking it’s eerily close to sunrise and I want to get _ out _of here.” San griped.

Eden frowned. “Almost. Just give me a minute.”

A minute turned into ten, and San began pacing, getting antsy. He’d left his own phone in their car, so he couldn’t check his sunrise app, or even the time.

“Eden?” San asked nervously—finally—after nearly fifteen minutes.

“Sorry, sorry, almost done. He’s got a lot of shit, and I want to do everything by the book because he was a human. Don’t need any lawsuits, right?” Eden reminded with a meaningful look.

“Right, I know. I just. What time is it?” San questioned softly.

Eden cursed, glancing at the display at the top of his phone. “It’s… shit. We might make it. We could probably get to the… _ borrowed _ car before the sun’s fully up, right? It was only a hundred meters or so from the warehouse door…”

San gave him a horrified look. “Not if it’s already past time for the sun to be up!”

“It’s not even six yet.” Eden reasoned.

“The sun rises at five-thirty!” San bleated.

Eden let out a frustrated huff, looking around for some solution. His eyes fell upon an interior door on the nearby wall. “Here, look, there’s an office. Maybe there’s a window.”

“Hang on a second, Eden!” San hurried after him as he headed through the door, finding a small clerical office. It had a large window on the far wall, and Eden crossed the room, grabbing the thick curtain with one hand.

“Let’s just check.” Eden said. “Maybe there’s a fog haze and we’ll have some time.”

“That’s not how it works…” San halted where he stood. “Eden, wait—!”

The hunter howled in pain as he drew the curtain back, sunlight pouring into the space through normal glass windows not designed to protect them. He yanked them closed again and pulled away, skin sizzling. The sun had done quite a number on him in such a short amount of time, searing the skin down the entire one side of his face and neck as well as his left hand, which he had briefly tried to shield himself with before pulling the curtains shut again.

_ “Fuck!” _

San grabbed him and tugged him further away from the window, pulling him down to sit beneath it. “Oh my god, oh my god—are you okay?!”

“Yeah it’s… man, that really _ is _ rough.” Eden gritted out as his skin struggled to knit back together. 

He reached up to touch the damaged skin on his face but San quickly shoved his hand away to prevent him from doing, so all while getting a full view of Eden’s extensive burns. San sharply inhaled at the sight.

Eden had never felt the touch of the sun’s rays, not since becoming a vampire. “That’s really what it’s like for you?”

San didn’t answer, just clutched onto Eden’s sleeve, his eyes wide and stuck in some place in the middle-distance even as they were settled upon the ruined skin of his cheek.

“San?”

His eyes had gone unfocused, twitching a little as they seemed to glance back and forth at nothing, as though San was seeing something he wasn’t, following it and watching in horror like a train wreck you couldn’t look away from.

“San, you still with me?”

The vampire didn’t answer, just let out an involuntary, quivering sob that sounded as though it was dragged from him. Something was wrong, incredibly wrong, and Eden didn’t know what to do. He craned his head down to catch the other’s eyes, trying desperately to get them to focus on him as he pulled at his arms.

“Sannie?”

“D-don’t…” San said finally, his voice soft. He’d reverted back to satoori, likely the dialect closer to how he had spoken when he was still human. “Don’t go out there, it’s dangerous. You’ll burn to death.”

“It’s okay, San, I’m here. I’m not burning.” Eden assured, but he couldn’t be certain San was even talking to him. His eyes were somewhere else entirely.

“Can’t you hear them? Don’t you hear them screaming? You can’t go out there. You’ll die.” San murmured.

“There’s no one screaming, San. No one else is here. It’s just us, and we’re both okay.” Eden told him, petting over his arms before finally bringing his hands up to his face and stroking over his cheeks gently. “We’re okay. Can you… come back to me, now?”

It took several more moments before the fog in San’s eyes cleared and he finally focused on Eden’s face. The flesh of his cheek was still a little red, but it was mostly healed. San reached up to run his finger gently over the fresh skin.

“Are you okay?”

Eden nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You… really freaked me out there for a second, Sannie. Are _ you _okay?”

San nodded. “Yeah, I just. When I saw you get burned, I… I just remembered… the day I was turned. Everyone. Everyone was burning alive around me.”

Eden frowned. “You never freaked out when _ you _were the one getting burned.”

“Because I… didn’t. That’s not how I got turned.” San explained. “But… everyone else… I had to watch everyone else—”

“You don’t have to explain.”

San swallowed, continuing anyway. “Have you… have you ever seen what napalm does to a human?”

Eden shook his head. He knew what napalm was, knew how it had been used in war throughout history, but he’d never seen it in person or even in video.

“Have you ever burned a vampire to kill them?”

Eden cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Yeah.”

“It’s kind of like that.” San told him. “But the skin doesn’t just turn to ash. It melts, like wax when it gets too hot. Just—boiling. And all the air around you burns up, so you’re just breathing in poison. A napalm attack is just… people running for their lives and screaming while they melt and choke.”

“San, I—”

“I was turned during the 625 Upheaval. What the rest of the world calls the Korean War. During the air raids in the 1950’s… they dropped napalm on us and lit the country on fire. It wasn’t made illegal until 1980. For almost thirty years I had to hear bureaucrats across the world try to justify what they did to those people, and to defend the use of it.” San frowned, looking down. “I know it was decades ago, a _ lifetime _ago, but I’ve never forgotten. I’ll never forget.”

Eden carded a hand into San’s hair, cradling the back of his head and pushing the other vampire’s face into his shoulder. “You should stop talking about it. Try thinking of something else.”

“Hmm, should I try to dream of Yunho’s dazzling smile or maybe puppies and kittens, to chase away all the horrors rattling around in my head?” San mumbled dryly, huffing a mirthless laugh. “Been doing that for seventy years. Why do you think I collect plushies and get up to so much sex? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked through a lot of my trauma, but even now, I’ve still got my triggers. Sometimes I wonder if it’ll _ ever _go away.”

Eden didn’t answer, just softly combed his fingers through San’s hair.

“Yeosang always says that time heals everything. But Seonghwa thinks it might not be like that for me, because of my eidetic memory.” San continued. “They both say that trauma is supposed to fade, that _ all _ your memories start to fade, the longer it’s been. But it’s… never been like that for me. I’m not always thinking about them, but when I do, they come back with stunning clarity that Seonghwa says isn’t the norm for average people… or vampires.”

“I didn’t know.” Eden murmured.

“You thought I was just a carefree, self-indulgent little brat, huh?” San teased, looking up at him with a melancholy smirk. “I mean, I try to be. I figure if I make enough good memories, maybe they’ll just bury the bad ones.”

Eden watched him for a moment, as if studying his face, like he could see past that grin to all the pain hiding beneath. “We could bury this bad one with a good one.”

As he suggested it, he leaned down until he was closer, until their noses were touching.

San’s brows drew in just a little. “You don’t have to—I know you really don’t want to do that.”

“But I do.”

San blinked. After a moment, though, he grinned devilishly. “Ah, so it wasn’t my charms that won you over in the end… you just like broken boys, hm?”

Eden grunted in annoyance. “I’m attracted to… complex people.”

“And you just thought I was vapid and one-dimensional.”

Eden inclined his head. “Honestly, yes. At first.”

“You know, that’s kinda fucked up.” San said, giggling. “Only liking me because I’ve got a ton of trauma.”

“It’s not the _ trauma _specifically, but my offer still stands.” Eden reminded him, avoiding the subject.

San stared at him for a moment, craning his head up a bit. “Eden, you are absolutely more than welcome to fuck my pain away.”

Eden rolled his eyes, but he leaned in and kissed San regardless.

He expected San to dial things up to eleven, as was his nature…at least as far as Eden saw when he was with the rest of the coven. Instead, however, San took things slow. He slid his hands up over Eden’s collarbone and just rested them there chastely, returning the kiss with the exact fervor he was being given.

It was a little… unexpected.

He found himself wondering if San was being conscientious of _ his _comfort level.

Well, that wasn’t going to stand… as kind and considerate as it was.

Eden gripped harder at San’s waist, pulling him into his lap forcefully. San trilled happily and moved his hands to rest against Eden’s neck. The grip was firm, but it wasn’t needy or aggressive in the way he was used to from San.

Eden sighed and pulled back, catching San’s gaze, which was focused fully upon him.

“If I’m doing this, it’s because I want _ you, _not some pacified version of you.” Eden told him sternly. “So give me the real San. My San.”

San stared up at him for a long moment before finally raising an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Eden replied, grinning.

San gave a sly smile, grabbing at the lapels of Eden’s leather jacket. “Okay, then. We’re both wearing _ way _too much fucking clothing.”

Eden huffed a laugh in agreeance as he helped a very eager San rid them both of most of their clothing. Eden didn’t bother with his own boots and thus kept his pants and boxers pooled at his ankles, which would impede his movement a little. San didn’t seem to mind, however, lying before him completely bare as he shamelessly spread his legs to either side of Eden’s hips.

The hunter ran his palms down over San’s thighs, from his knees to the vee of his hips, causing the other to shiver. He watched the way San raked his eyes over him, licking his lips in anticipation. He’d been begging for Eden to do this for so long… and yet, Eden couldn’t help but hesitate.

San looked so _ small _beneath him. They were in some dingy office with thin, non-padded carpet and none of their usual supplies. This was far from ideal.

“Maybe we shouldn’t, you know…” Eden trailed off, giving him a deliberate look to infer his meaning. “I don’t wanna hurt you, and it’s not like we have—”

Eden stopped talking when San pressed a small tube of lubricant into his hand.

“San. Why do you have _ lube?” _

“Because I was going to a _ club _ with the intention of having some _ fun _in the case that our murderer wasn’t around.” San replied shamelessly. “Now, less talking and more prepping.”

Eden rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous. I can’t believe you.”

“I can’t believe your fingers aren’t already in me.” San snapped.

“Further proving my point.” Eden grumbled, drizzling the lube onto his first two fingers before bringing them between San’s legs.

It was probably in bad form to draw mental comparisons between one’s lovers—especially when in the midst of intimacy—but Eden couldn’t help it. It wasn’t as though he’d had many.

Just two… Seonghwa and Hongjoong.

He had never pursued intimacy with anyone before then. He’d never been interested in his teen years… part of how he came to the conclusion of his demisexuality, but as a hunter, he hadn’t pursued relationships. And once he met Seonghwa, he knew he never would.

He would never love someone the way he loved Seonghwa, whether or not those feelings were ever returned, so what would have been the point?

As a lover, Seonghwa was unselfish and giving. He always prioritized others’ pleasure above his own. Hongjoong, on the other hand, was more fiery, but proud. He was easily flustered, often subtly shielding his eyes or burying his face when he didn’t want Eden to see how affected he was. He constantly had a barbed quip at the ready, and was always issuing challenges, or trying to prove himself.

San, however, was shameless. He watched Eden’s every move, writhed under his every touch and made his pleasure or displeasure known with every sound he made.

San also seemed so _ small. _

Hongjoong was small. Seonghwa was thin and svelte but taller than San and Hongjoong both, as well as having an infinitely more intimidating aura. Hongjoong may have been the smaller of the two, but he was strong. He was compact, but muscular, years of training as a hunter having toned his body. San was just… _ tiny. _His shoulders were somewhat broad compared to the rest of him, but his waist was so small that Eden’s fingers almost touched when he set his hands upon either side of it, his thumbs skirting next to his navel. He often dressed to accentuate it, but it was somehow even more obvious when he wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing. It wasn’t an optical illusion. He was just… built like that.

“You gonna fuck me some time this century?” San teased, huffing in annoyance despite his playful tone.

“When I’m good n’ ready.” Eden quipped back, adding more lube to his fingers before pressing three of them inside, having worked him up to it.

“Well _ I’m _ready, and that’s what’s supposed to matter here.” San grumbled. “You might be big, but I can take it. Been sitting on Mingi’s monster cock for over six decades… I can handle whatever you give me.”

Eden rolled his eyes, smirking. “Well, maybe I like making you wait.”

San leveled him with a dangerous stare, and before Eden knew what was happening, he was the one on his back, San flipping their positions and straddling him.

“Afraid I’m _ really _impatient.”

Eden shrugged, dropping the lube on his own stomach and resting his hands behind his head. “You wanna do all the work? Be my guest.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” San replied tersely, snapping up the lube and drizzling a generous amount on Eden’s cock. “I’m no pillow princess. I’ll fuck myself on top of you ‘til you’re begging for mercy.”

Eden scoffed a laugh, raising his eyebrows. “Big talk.”

“Mm, but I can back it up.” San quipped, winking at the double-entendre as he lifted up, then lowered himself down onto Eden’s cock in one swift motion.

Eden groaned at the feeling of it, because _ fuck _ he was tight, and San gave him absolutely _ no _quarter, immediately swiveling his hips and shifting his weight to his knees so he could ride him. Eden didn’t manage to keep his hands to himself for very long; it wasn’t a minute later that he was gripping San’s thigh with the left, letting his right roam up over his chest.

“I’ll show you how it’s done.” San cooed. It was reasonable that he could do sinful things with his tongue, but the fact that he somehow managed to turn his hips and even internal muscle spasms into lethal weapons truly spoke to his skill.

San could genuinely steal a man’s soul with his merits as a lover, of that Eden had little doubt.

Eden wasn’t one to take things lying down, however.

He let San have his fun for a little while, enjoyed watching him rock up and down over him like it was some kind of dance, his movements fluid and graceful and never erring. Eden wondered if he really could keep it up for hours, if San really could get him to beg for mercy.

Eden wasn’t about to give him the chance.

He let both his hands settle on San’s hips, holding him down onto his cock before he pivoted, flipping the two of them so that San was on his back again with Eden between his legs. San trilled, grinning up at him.

“Mm, want your turn?” He cooed. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Eden did, happily.

The rhythm he set was neither fast nor slow, and Eden’s thumbs dug into his hips as he rocked into him, San mewling softly on every thrust. 

“Nnh—c’mon, fuck me harder, Eden. You can’t break me.”

Eden inclined his head. “Can’t I?”

San snorted. “You are damn welcome to try.”

“You really are an insatiable little minx, huh?” Eden drawled.

“I can be sated.” San bit back. “I just don’t like being held out on. Know you got more than that, big daddy.”

“Okay, so, the d-word is banned, effective now.” Eden grunted uncomfortably.

San scoffed. “Well yeah, I guess I can’t very well call you that if you’re going to call it ‘the d-word’ as if you’re five years old.”

“Not my kink.” Eden said.

“Fine.” San watched him for a moment, a grin spreading over his face. “Sir.”

Eden’s expression remained neutral. “This ain’t a scene.”

“It’s a g—” San was cut off by a hand over his mouth, and he petulantly scrunched his nose.

“I’d threaten to slap you, but then it really would be a scene. And you’d like it.” Eden said in a tone that almost seemed to imply disgust, even though he was clearly just goading him. San trilled, biting his lip when Eden finally pulled his hand away.

“I wouldn’t complain if you wanted to slap me around.” San drawled, letting his tongue run over his teeth. “But I’d settle for you fucking me like you mean it. Otherwise I might just have to take the reins again.”

Eden raised an eyebrow. That distinctly felt like a threat… or at the very least, a challenge.

He was far too proud to turn it down.

Eden gave San no warning before gripping his hips and flipping him over, pushing back into him once he was settled on his knees.

“Oh, finally going to take some initiative?” San goaded, leaning down on his forearms and wiggling his hips a little.

Eden didn’t let him get comfortable, though. He looped his arm around San’s waist and pulled him back against his chest, sliding his own legs past him as he did. He propped himself up against the wall so he was free to use both his hands to grip San beneath both his knees, keeping his legs spread obscenely to either side of his own.

Two things happened: one, San lost any and all of his leverage, groping behind himself only to find Eden’s chest to grip… and two, gravity let all of San’s weight settle him onto Eden’s cock, forcing him to take him as deeply as he could.

The sound San let out was inhuman, his voice cracking a little as he writhed, desperately seeking some kind of foothold, to no avail.

Eden nipped at the shell of his ear, his voice low and soothing even past the strained roughness of it. “Shh, I have the reins. Just let me.”

San shivered, his body going lax as he surrendered.

“That’s it.” Eden cooed, finally letting himself begin to rock his hips. He started off slow, but it wasn’t long before his pace picked up to something a little more brutal, a little more San’s style.

San was living for it, losing his mind over it if the sounds coming out of his mouth were anything to go by. He had no earthly idea what to do with his hands, so he ended up fisting one into Eden’s hair _ hard _while the other gripped at the hunter’s hip.

“F-fuck, Eden, y-you’re so fucking _ deep, _fuck!” San slurred mindlessly, hazily watching where his skin would shift when the other fucked up into him, distending his abdomen slightly. “G-good, fuck, you feel so good—”

Eden couldn’t help the wash of pride _ that _sent through him… but reducing San to a babbling mess despite all his big talk was quickly becoming one of his favorite pastimes.

“You gonna come?” He asked, running his tongue over San’s neck.

San nodded, whimpering. “Close, close…”

“Want me to touch you?”

San practically sobbed. “Please, Eden, _ please—!” _

Eden moved his right hand from beneath San’s knee, directing San’s own hand to hold his leg in his stead as he slid his fingertips down over his abdomen before wrapping them around San’s cock.

San wailed, jolting in his grip. He shook and writhed as Eden worked him over, but it wasn’t until Eden softly nipped at his neck and told him to come that he finally did.

San made a mess of himself, his moans becoming high-pitched whines as Eden’s pace showed no signs of relenting. Eventually, Eden released his cock to press against San’s navel, ignoring the mess across his stomach in favor of feeling the way his own cock moved inside the other.

Eden came with a groan muffled into the side of San’s neck, the two of them shivering together for several long seconds until the feeling finally began to fade.

It was at least a minute or two before Eden moved, making to remove San from his lap.

“N-no, no, don’t move.” San spoke up, grabbing his wrist. He pulled his hand up to his mouth and began licking the mess off of it with small swipes of his tongue. “Lemme keep you warm.”

The grip of Eden’s free hand tightened on San’s waist, and though he didn’t say anything, he hummed his assent.

They remained like that for a nebulous amount of time, just coming down from the high of everything. The sex, sure, but before that… the wild night they’d had. Fatal fights, nightclub stakeouts and car chases… it had certainly been one for the books.

It was a long time before either of them spoke. San was just quietly basking in the calmness of it all while Eden gently ran his fingertips over his sides in soothing patterns, just to keep himself awake and focused on something.

Eventually, they parted, the position becoming a little uncomfortable even to them. San laid out dramatically on the floor, making a show of looking well and truly obliterated.

“It’s well into the day… we might wanna try to sleep.” Eden said, but he really only meant San. He sure as hell wasn’t going to sleep.

San scoffed. “In a place like this, with a dead guy in the other room? Fat chance.”

“Fair enough.” Eden conceded. “Not looking forward to the drive on no sleep, though. And then we have to give the others a rundown. Seonghwa’s going to have a fit.”

San gave a panicked look. “You can’t… tell Seonghwa about all this.”

Eden raised a brow. “Can’t I?”

“The… part about me getting hurt. And almost getting my head sheared off.” San clarified. “Just, leave that out. I’ll get lectured and he might never forgive you.”

“I’m prepared to live with the consequences of what happened tonight, of my failing to protect you.” Eden replied. “But I can’t keep it from Seonghwa. I’m sorry.”

San pouted. “Come on, I’ll give you the best blowjob of your life if you keep it between us.”

Eden rolled his eyes. “San… you should know by now that you can’t win me over with sexual favors.”

“I can’t?” San sighed. “Aw, I thought this might’ve, you know, changed things a bit.”

Eden grunted uncomfortably, looking away. “Nah. Though it might… change things back at the mansion.”

“Well yeah, I mean, I can probably ease off on throwing myself at you now that the novelty has worn off. Getting a taste of that dick, though, just leaves me wanting more.”

“_ San _.” Eden chided, scandalized.

“What? I’m mostly kidding. You’re all right.” San teased, winking. When Eden gave him a look, however, he realized. “Ah. You meant like… emotionally. The coven dynamics. I assume that most of your concern lies with Seonghwa.”

Eden frowned, shrugging. “I mean him, yeah. And for you, Yunho. You two are… uh. Rather close.”

“Well sure, but it’s not just us. I’ve been fucking Mingi for almost as long as I’ve been a vampire, and he and Yunho are just as much of an item. Well, maybe not _ as much, _ since I’ve known Mingi for longer than Yunho’s been _ alive, _but my point stands.”

“I mean I know you all… mess around.” Eden said, grimacing at the term because it didn’t really do their dynamic any justice. “But still, Yunho really seems to care about you. Love you, even. Do you…?”

“Love Yunho? Of course, don’t be ridiculous. I love all my Yunhos and non-Yunhos equally.” San said with a laugh.

“San, please, I’m trying to be serious here.” Eden chided.

“Yeah I love him. I love my entire coven. Even the humans.” San replied dismissively.

Eden’s brow furrowed. “No, I mean like… a deeper connection. Not just a physical connection, or caring about him like anyone else you’re close to. I don’t know, I just got the sense you had something more, when he came to take care of you...”

San crossed his arms. “What do you mean, _ something more?” _

“Well, when he looks at you… I don’t know.” Eden shrugged, gesturing vaguely. “ It’s like he would throw anything away in a heartbeat for you.”

“Oh, right, Yunho looks at me the way Hongjoong looks at Seonghwa when he thinks we can’t see him.” San said. “And the way Yeosang literally _ constantly _looks at Wooyoung. The sap.”

“I… yeah, I guess?”

“I don’t look like a dopey idiot when I’m staring at any of you, do I?”

“Not… particularly, no.” Eden mumbled. “So you just… feel the same way, about all of us?”

“I mean, I love you all, I would lay down my life for you all, I would happily fuck any of you—even Jongho, if he asked, obviously, but… I don’t really understand the question.”

“You know how it’s hard for me to do the whole ‘group’ thing with the coven because I really only feel attracted to the people I’ve made a deep emotional connection with?”

“Yeah…”

“What’s your idea of a deep emotional connection?”

“Um. Like I said, I’d die for them, and—”

“No, I mean… do you have a romantic connection with anyone in the coven?”

“I… uh. Mingi used to stage these cheesy dates for us back in the 60’s? Like flowers and candlelight and all that? It was cute, but then he stopped because I told him it seemed like a lot of work when he could’ve just initiated sex and I’d happily go along.”

Eden seemed to realize something, then. “San, what does romance mean to you?”

That earned him a confused look. “I just told you? The flowers and the—”

“No. Romantic love.” Eden corrected. “What does that feel like to you?”

“I… what?”

“You know how you helped me realize for sure I was demisexual? I’d always kind of suspected, but when you brought it up, it just confirmed everything I ever felt.”

“Of course. That was the first night you let me suck your dick.” San said wistfully, a dreamy expression on his face. “It was amazing.”

“San, I think you might be aromantic?”

San’s brow furrowed. “What? But I love my coven.”

“You do. Of course you do. But, you’ve never felt that special spark you only feel when you’ve fallen in love? When you’re human, it feels like butterflies in your stomach and it’s just a… wash of happiness comes over you when you see them or think about them.”

“Huh? You mean like that fake flowery shit they put in poems and novels?” San balked.

“It’s not fake, San. A lot of people really feel that when they fall for someone.” Eden replied.

“Was it… like that for you? With Seonghwa?” San asked quietly.

Eden nodded. “My heart would literally leap. I swore he had to have known, but he never—he never called me out on it, even when he was lightheartedly teasing about other things, when he was patching me up. He had to have noticed, but he kept quiet about it, I guess for my benefit.”

“What’s it… feel like now?” San questioned softly.

“Now it’s… less of a physical response. It’s more just… I can look at him and everything feels like it will be okay. It’s just a rush of good feelings and sometimes I’m terrified that I’ll just blurt out something stupid, about how much he means to me and—”

“Why would that be stupid?”

“I don’t know. I guess even after everything, I still feel like an afterthought. A third wheel. He just feels _ so much _for Hongjoong and I don’t resent it, I don’t, but it seems like my feelings are… inconvenient. Like it’d be better for everyone if I wasn’t—”

“Eden.” San interrupted, shaking his head. “I’ve known Seonghwa for a long, long time. If you or any part of you were an inconvenience, he would make it known.”

Eden pressed his lips together into a grim line, nodding.

“But… about what you said. I don’t… I’ve never felt that. When I was human or as a vampire. It’s just… love is love to me. And it’s not just sex for me, I mean, I’ve had sex with people I didn’t even _ like, _and others that I did, but didn’t love like I love my coven. But I don’t… I don’t think I feel what you’re talking about. I always thought that was stuff made up for movies and novels to get the point across. I didn’t even know that was a real thing.” San gave the barest of laughs. “Do… do you really think I could be aromantic?”

“I don’t know. That’s not for me to decide; you need to go on that journey on your own. But for the record, I don’t think it makes you some cold, unfeeling sex-fiend or something.” Eden assured. “You obviously love your coven deeply. It just sounds like it might be more of a… familial or platonic love. And since there’s sexual attraction, you connect with us deeply on a physical level, too.”

“Huh.” San murmured, revelatory. “Man, we make quite the pair, don’t we? The demi and the aro. Fucking clueless about ourselves, getting into all sorts of chaos. What a mess we are.”

Eden snorted. “Damn fuckin’ right.”

San shrugged. “Well, that’s on-brand for us. I mean, you’ve been pining after Seonghwa for decades and you still don’t have your shit together with that. I wouldn’t expect you to figure out the mess that is us two just like that.”

Eden sighed in relief. “Th-thanks. I… think. Sort of insulted, but mostly just grateful.”

“What, did you think I was suddenly going to drop everything and go all in on you?” San drawled, smirking. “C’mon, the dick is good, but _ no _ dick is _ that _good. Don’t flatter yourself.”

Eden scoffed, shaking his head and throwing his shirt at San. “You’re such a little shit.”

_ “There _it is. All that biting commentary is just part of the charm for me.” San said brightly, nibbling on his own lip as he looked Eden up and down. “Now tell me how annoyed you are with me while you fuck me into the floor again. Extra points if you spank me.”

_ “San!” _Eden barked, scandalized, all while San laughed himself into hysterics.

Eden was just glad to see him smiling again, and sure, he was happy to indulge him if it meant having _ their _San back.

***

The day passed in a hazy delirium for the two vampires. While it wasn’t a detriment to their health to be in such an environment, they were used to being spoiled with a climate-controlled mansion and comfortable beds, so finding sleep was difficult to say the least. San was also overly-cautious about checking the windows to determine if it was dark out, so they ended up wasting more time than was needed.

Eden had sent an update text to Seonghwa with the last of his cell’s battery power to let him know they’d be making the drive back that night, after they had called it in to the Bureau to have a team sent out to the warehouse to take care of the remains. Seonghwa was clearly beside himself, but kept his texts short and non-probing for the moment. 

San and Eden made quick work of packing up the hotel room, but San grimaced as he peeled out of his filthy clothes from the day before.

“I can’t sit in a car for two hours feeling _ this _gross. Let’s shower and then we can head out.”

Eden nodded in agreement, grabbing a plastic bag he could separate their dirty clothes into. He heard the water start up, and after a long moment, San spoke up.

“Are you coming?”

Eden blinked, dragging himself to the bathroom. “Sorry, wasn’t sure if you wanted me to—”

“It’s literally a waste of time to wash separately. Get in.” San ordered, and Eden complied without complaint.

San just grinned in a pleased manner, grabbing the shampoo and squirting a generous amount into his palm.

“C’mere, your hair looks fucking gross.”

Eden frowned, but didn’t deny him, moving a little closer until there was almost no space between them.

San reached up, beginning to lather Eden’s hair. He worked the shampoo through the strands, scratching gently at his scalp. Eden’s shoulders dropped as he relaxed instantly, letting his hands rest on San’s hips. He hummed softly in pleasure as his eyes slipped closed.

San smirked, scrunching his face up in amusement. “See, look at that. Even the most feral barn cat purrs when you pet him just right.”

“I swear to god I will claw your eyes out, San.” Eden said flatly, his own still closed.

That just earned him a giggle. “Fine, fine… but bad kitties don’t get scritchies—”

Eden finally opened one eye. “San, I will _ actually _kill you.”

“No you won’t.” San sing-songed, still contentedly brushing his hands through the soapy strands.

Eden hated that he was right.

Ironically, the drive back to the mansion was more awkward than the drive into the city had been. So much had happened that it was hard to reconcile it all. San seemed to mostly keep to himself again, listening to his music or playing his phone games. Eden just kept an eerie amount of focus on the road until they were about fifteen minutes out. That was when San pulled his airpods out and sighed, turning to Eden with a hesitant look.

“You sure I can’t convince you to keep Seonghwa in the dark about the extent of my injuries? I mean, I’m fully healed. No harm no foul, right?” San tried, letting his fingers trail up Eden’s nearest thigh. “I’m prepared to beg.”

“Beg all you want but I’m still gonna tell him.” Eden replied in a low voice. “He’s our coven patriarch, and I don’t plan to get into the habit of lying to him, blatantly or by omission—what _ are _you doing?”

He glanced down at San, who blinked up at him from where he was leaning over the center console, working on getting Eden’s fly open. “What? You said I could beg all I wanted.”

“San.” Eden said dangerously. “You won’t change my mind.”

“Mm, I know, but I give much better head when I have a goal in mind.” San teased, winking before lowering himself into Eden’s lap.

Eden decided to solely dedicate his attention to the road, after that, because he really didn’t feel like explaining any damage to Seonghwa’s car on top of everything else.

***

Seonghwa might have appeared calm to anyone who did not know him when he greeted the two of them in the foyer, smiling brightly and pulling San into a hug immediately.

Eden could see it, though… the worry hiding in the strain at the corners of his eyes, the slight tremor in his hands as he hesitated before pulling Eden into an embrace as well, as though to ensure he was comfortable with it. Eden returned the gesture, smiling when Seonghwa pressed a kiss to his temple.

Yeosang and Wooyoung were soon to join him, and Mingi soon after. Their humans did not appear to get the memo, or were simply not aware they were back.

“We are… so glad to have you both home, alive and well.” Seonghwa said in a tone not unlike a sigh of relief, as though the entire sentence was one long exhale he was finally able to let out.

“Don’t let him fool you. He’s been manic.” Mingi piped up. “He hasn’t stopped cleaning since you left. And not to mention that Hongjoong’s still out on that hunt—”

“Hongjoong’s _ still _ not back?” Eden said with a hint of concern in his voice.

“Yes, well, let us not taint a happy moment with reminders of our _ other _worries, hm?” Seonghwa cut them off hastily. “You both must be exhausted. Did you feed? You look well, did the mission pan out after all, in the end?”

“Okay, Seonghwa, I love you, but I am _ way _too beat to play twenty questions right now.” San grunted, running a hand through his hair. 

“Everything went fine.” Eden replied while side-eyeing San over his curtness. He’d hardly slept the day before, so he supposed that was fair. “We finally caught the bastard and he won’t be tormenting anyone—human or vampire alike—ever again.”

“And you two are both physically all right? Nothing too serious?” Seonghwa continued, looking between them.

San shot Eden a warning glare.

“Nothing that needs immediate attention.” Eden replied casually as he gave San a look that clearly conveyed that he was going to tell Seonghwa, just that now was not the time.

“After all the time you spent together, I’m honestly surprised the two of you made it back alive.” Wooyoung said dryly with a snort.

“Wooyoung!” Yeosang hissed, a look of utter horror on his face.

Wooyoung quickly realized his mistake and immediately backpedaled, throwing up his hands in surrender. “No that’s not what I—no, no, no! I meant that you two are always at each other’s throats. Not that someone would actually, _ you know, _oh my god I’m an idiot…”

Eden gave a bit of a laugh at Wooyoung’s sudden panic. 

“S’fine.” Eden said with a shrug. “We actually ended up making a pretty good team.”

Eden had put his hand around San’s waist as he spoke and pulled him in close, roughly shaking him in a teasing manner as he did so. San was quick to pull himself out of Eden’s grasp and take a step away from him.

"Yeah, yeah, you can drop the act. The mission’s over." San scoffed. "I do have to admit, though, you've become a really good actor."

"Who says I'm still acting? I dropped that shit days ago." Eden replied while roughly grabbing onto San's shirt collar, pulling him in close so their faces were only centimeters apart.

San's eyes were wide in shock but slowly his gaze softened to something a little more sly. "Fuck off..." He muttered.

"You wish." Eden replied with a devilish grin, leaning in to kiss him.

San let out a soft noise of surprise, hesitantly returning it with far less fervor than he usually would have. He could feel everyone watching them intently, but it had never been in his nature to care about that sort of thing. His concern—and confusion, in that moment—was for Eden alone.

When Eden pulled back, he ruffled San’s hair a little, smiling. “Afraid you’re stuck with me, Sannie.”

San just sputtered, floundering. It was a cold day in hell when someone made _ him _flustered, and yet, there he was, speechless.

Eden thought it was so cute that he couldn’t help but to lean in and kiss him again.

Mingi puffed out his cheeks a bit, sticking out his lower lip. “Well I feel a little used…”

His short-term memory wasn’t the best, but he’d _ never _ forget the way Eden had once shoved him against a wall and kissed him passionately for all of five seconds before declaring he hadn’t liked it and stalking off. All to piss San off. And now he was _ definitely _ enjoying doing the same with San. Mingi wasn’t sure he’d ever even _ begin _to understand the hunter.

He was still pouting as he stalked off toward the kitchen, hoping to find one of his emotional support humans.

“Well this is not something I need to see.” Yeosang said with a raise of his eyebrow as he turned to head back upstairs without another word, ushering Wooyoung to come along with him.

Seonghwa, however, was smiling fondly, appearing as though he was brimming with pride. It was almost paternal, in a way, how he laid a hand over his heart and sighed lightly.

“It brings me so much joy to see the two of you getting along.”

Eden chuckled under his breath as he finally pulled away, because he _ really _ didn’t even know the half of it. What had started out as a mission to find a serial killer had ended up becoming an obstacle course of self discovery as well. For once, Eden finally felt like he was actually part of the coven—part of the family they had become—free of judgement. And maybe, just maybe… spending the rest of eternity with _ all _ these weirdos wouldn’t be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small epilogue remains! Please look forward to it!


	7. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small treat to answer some of your burning questions from chapter one ;)

It had been several nights since the case had wrapped and Eden and San had returned home to the mansion. Eden had finally gotten around to unpacking the remainder of his bag when he noticed he still had the clothes Seonghwa had lent him on his first night. He gave a bit of a smirk imagining Seonghwa wearing these same clothes and how much Seonghwa had liked how he had looked in them instead. But he knew he would have to return them sooner rather than later. He quickly made an appointment for them to be picked up to be dry cleaned and pressed.

The clothes were to be delivered at 2:30 am. It was currently 2:25 am and Eden was pacing the foyer when he received a text from the drycleaners saying there had been an unexpected delay and it would be another twenty minutes before they would be ready. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Eden headed back into the belly of the mansion, he could hear a ruckus coming from the living room down the hall and his curiosity got the better of him.

As he walked into the living room, Jongho, Yunho and San were in the middle of a quite heated match of some FPS Eden couldn’t name off the top of his head.

“What are you guys doing?” Eden asked, having no idea how the mechanics of the game worked.

“Oh hyung! Wanna play next round?!” Jongho asked excitedly, briefly taking his eyes from the screen.

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll just watch.” Eden said somewhat dismissively.

Eden hovered behind San on the couch in front of him. It appeared that San was actually winning. Eden cracked a devilish smile as he leaned down and pressed his palms against San’s cheeks, completely distracting him and obscuring his vision.

“Errden fuq obf!” San mumbled angrily while Eden continued to squish his cheeks as he tried to swat him away.

However, Eden kept to messing with San until it was quite evident that San’s videogame character had met an unfortunate end. San dropped the controller on his lap with a small cry of defeat before whipping around and glaring at Eden.

“You’re fucking dead.” San growled as he launched himself up and over the back of the couch.

Eden was only half a step ahead of him and had just barely managed to escape San’s pounce, only to be pursued down the hall. San was fast. San was _ really _fast. Within seconds, he had tackled Eden from behind, driving his body into the hardwood.

Eden was quick to struggle free only for San to pin him again in a choke hold. San’s moves had become predictable to Eden, however, and without too much of a struggle, Eden was able to take a hold of San and roughly flip him over, laying him out hard on his back.

San’s eyes were wild and his fangs were bared when he got back to his feet and tackled Eden for a second time. San looked like he might’ve actually been pretty upset, but Eden was enjoying himself… more than he cared to admit. 

“Who’s the feral barn cat now, Sannie?” Eden goaded, smirking as he kept the other at bay.

San snarled and lunged for him again, baring his teeth.

They scuffled for some time before Jongho and Yunho came to investigate what exactly was going on. No sooner had they turned the corner that Eden and San quickly parted, putting several feet between them as if nothing had happened. Their disheveled hair and clothing, as well as the small scratch on Eden’s cheek—which was quickly healing—hinted otherwise.

“What the hell is going on?” Jongho asked, looking over Eden leaning precariously against the far wall while San was sitting splayed on the floor.

“Nothing.” Both Eden and San said in unison as Yunho helped San back to his feet.

At that moment the mansion doorbell rang and Eden’s attention was quickly drawn away from the scuffle.

San petulantly stuck his tongue out at Eden as Yunho ushered him back to the living room.

Running a hand through his hair and giving his clothes a quick pat, Eden quickly went to go pick up the drycleaning.

A few minutes later, Eden headed for Seonghwa’s room, the clothes he’d borrowed freshly laundered and folded neatly in his arms. Knocking lightly on the frame of the open door, he cautiously entered the room, having seen Seonghwa give him a preoccupied nod as he was reorganizing some books.

“Hey, uh, I’m just giving these back.” Eden said, holding out the clothes.

“Oh, you didn’t want to keep them? For a special occasion?” Seonghwa asked nonchalantly.

Eden swallowed down the nerves that were slowly creeping up to the surface. 

“Oh, well, I thought you’d want them back. They look expensive.”

“No, that’s fine. Feel free to borrow them whenever you like.” Seonghwa said, turning to face Eden and giving him a small wink. “You know where they go, correct?”

“Yeah, bottom drawer, third wardrobe on the left?” Eden recited.

Seonghwa hummed in agreement as Eden entered Seonghwa’s enormous walk-in closet. A second too late, it dawned on Seonghwa what Eden had said.

“Eden, wait—” Seonghwa had started to say as he quickly stalked over to the closet.

“Oh… my god.” Eden muttered as he opened the wrong drawer just as Seonghwa entered the closet.

“Ahem. Well…” Seonghwa said with a bit of a sly smile, seeing the contents of the open drawer.

“Wrong drawer.” Eden curtly commented.

“It appears so.” Seonghwa replied, casually crossing his arms in front of him.

“You… really like this stuff?” Eden asked as he placed the borrowed clothes down on the floor and reached into the drawer to pull out some skimpy silk lingerie.

Seonghwa just hummed in agreement.

Eden hesitated for a moment. “Well, how’d you feel if _ I _ were to wear it?”

Seonghwa raised his eyebrows in surprise while also biting his lower lip at the thought.

“I believe you would look absolutely ravishing.” Seonghwa said breathily.

“And what are these other things?” Eden asked as he pulled out what looked like oddly-shaped wax candles.

“Ah, I had forgotten those were there.” Seonghwa said fondly as he approached Eden, leaning over his shoulder and gently taking the candles from his hands. “Would you like me to teach you how these work?” He whispered seductively in Eden’s ear.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Eden replied, turning to face Seonghwa, their faces only centimetres apart.

“And would you like to put those on first?” Seonghwa asked, motioning to the lingerie

Eden swallowed, nodding. “Absolutely.”

***

Hongjoong was sure his stormy mood was palpable even from a distance as he finally slammed open the mansion’s front door, kicking it closed behind him. He’d stupidly decided to take his bike, thinking he’d have an easier time tailing the targets that way, but it had ended up backfiring on him when he couldn’t safely return home during the day. He was forced to stay in one of his safe-houses, which at least had the added benefit of allowing him a shower, but still, after a grueling nearly two-week long hunt, he just wanted to be _ home. _

“M’back.” He announced, poking his head in on the common room. Only Wooyoung and Yeosang were there, the former dozing draped over the latter’s chest while he read.

“Welcome back. You look like hell.” Yeosang told him bluntly.

Hongjoong grimaced. “I _ feel _like hell. Where’s Hwa?”

“Upstairs in his room, last I saw.” Yeosang replied.

“Thanks.” He responded, tossing his duffle over his shoulder as he trudged up the stairs.

Once he made it to the hall, he barely stopped in time not to get trampled by Yunho.

“Whoa, easy!” San piped up, and Hongjoong realized he was happily propped up on Yunho’s back, the human effortlessly carrying him piggyback style.

“Oh, sorry, hyung! Welcome back!” Yunho said, his face lighting up.

“Do I wanna know why San is riding you like a horse?” Hongjoong grumbled hesitantly, but Yunho just laughed.

“Well, it took me offering a rematch after intentional sabotage by a third party, but San won a video game-related bet.” He explained, shrugging amiably. “Don’t worry about it, though… he weighs almost as little as you do!”

“Uh-huh.” Hongjoong could only nod dazedly as Yunho gave one of his signature million-watt smiles. He was obviously enjoying himself, so who was he to judge? “Well, just watch out for pedestrians, I guess.”

“Of course, hyung! Sorry again.” Yunho replied bashfully.

San kicked his legs a little, wiggling eagerly. “C’mon, let’s go bother Jongho and Mingi.”

“Duty calls.” Yunho said, laughing softly as he headed toward the other end of the hall.

Hongjoong rolled his eyes and continued on to his own destination. He pushed Seonghwa’s door open without even knocking, tiredly announcing himself.

“Seonghwa? M’home—uh?”

He halted in the doorway when he saw that Seonghwa was not alone. Seonghwa was standing at the edge of the bed, between Eden’s legs, who was spread out beneath him and eagerly taking his cock. He was holding what looked like a candle, the deep crimson wax littering Eden’s torso in uneven speckles.

What caught his attention the most, however, was what both of them were _ wearing. _ The two of them were clad head-to-toe in luxurious lingerie. Eden’s was a deep burgundy, mostly velvet and lace, while Seonghwa was wearing black silk that looked positively _ breathtaking _on him. He found his eyes trailing upward along the seams at the backs of his stockings, showing off his long, elegantly-shaped legs until he reached the garters, and his brain promptly short-circuited.

“What the… fuck…”

“Oh, Hongjoong.” Seonghwa said in a tone dripping with relief. “Welcome back, my love. I had meant to be there to greet you myself, I hadn’t realized—”

“No, this is. Uh. Huh.” Hongjoong swallowed as he dropped his duffle bag. _ “God _you look good in that.”

Seonghwa grinned slyly over his own shoulder as he watched Hongjoong’s eyes rake over him, greedily taking in the lace and ribbons and silk. “Would you care to join us?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Hongjoong grunted, all but tearing his jacket off and nearly tripping in his haste to get to the bed.

Eden glanced between the two of them, wondering if he should respectfully excuse himself, but then Seonghwa returned his attention to him as Hongjoong struggled to get out of his tactical cargo pants.

“He may be a little while yet.” Seonghwa joked, nipping at Eden’s collarbone just above a smattering of cooled wax.

“Hey… lemme ask you something, Seonghwa.” Eden said before he could lose his nerve. Seonghwa cocked his head with a curious hum, his fingertips idly playing over Eden’s thighs casually. “What would you say if I told you I still… kinda feel like I’m a third wheel in all this?”

“I literally walked in on him fucking _ you, _Eden.” Hongjoong grunted as he worked on loosening another complicated buckle.

Seonghwa just inclined his head, though, offering a quelling smile. “You may consider yourself a third wheel, and that feeling may not be entirely inaccurate, in some ways. But… my relationship with Hongjoong is hardly a bicycle.”

Eden just blinked, staring for a long moment before huffing a laugh, grinning to himself.

He’d known Seonghwa for over a decade. Of course he knew exactly what he’d say. Somehow, proving for certain that he knew Seonghwa so well—so intimately—was more comforting than anything else.

“But you already knew that, didn’t you, my old friend?” Seonghwa replied in a knowing tone.

“Maybe I just needed to hear it.” Eden rebuffed, still smiling.

“Now _ I’m _starting to feel like a third wheel.” Hongjoong teased, finally managing to shuck off his pants.

“Then get naked and get over here, you punk.” Eden quipped.

“Working on it!” Hongjoong snarled, all but tearing off his shirt.

Seonghwa laughed softly to himself as Hongjoong practically dove onto the bed, still working on kicking off his boxers.

Not a bicycle, by any means, but a beautiful arrangement nonetheless.

**Author's Note:**

> Find ScarlettSiren on twt and CC @VermillionVamp !  
Find ColourAndCity on twt @ColourAndCity_ or CC @ColourAndCity or by yelling into The Void


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